| Buckner Building | |
|---|---|
| Near Whittier, Alaska in United States | |
 The Buckner Building | |
  Buckner Building | |
| Coordinates | 60°46′28.58″N148°40′30.47″W / 60.7746056°N 148.6751306°W |
| Type | Military building |
| Length | 500 feet (150 m) |
| Site information | |
| Owner | City of Whittier |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1953 |
| Built by | United States Army Corps of Engineers |
| In use | 1966 |
The Buckner Building is an abandoned former U.S. military building in Whittier, Alaska, on the Western edge of the Prince William Sound. [1]
During the early stages of World War II, General Simon Buckner commanded the defense of Alaska and was concerned they would be attacked by air. [1] [2] To protect the troops, General Buckner recommended a facility that was independent from local power plants, bomb-proof, and that had sufficient storage spaces. [2] Whittier, Alaska was the perfect place to have this military base.
First, the bay area around Whittier, Alaska has deep-water ports that stay ice-free year round. [3] With Whittier being one of two all-weather railroad ports that supplied Anchorage with military necessities, it was important that it would stay functioning and safeguarded. [4] Second, the almost constant cloud coverage would protect the facility from air strikes. [5]
The Cold War triggered the United States Army Corps of Engineers to quickly build housing and recreational spaces for 1,000 soldiers moving to Whittier. [1] [3] The Composite Bachelor Housing Service and Recreation Center, also known as the Buckner Building, was completed in 1953. [6] This combined building had a mess hall, sleeping quarters, movie theatre, bowling alley, small jail, and tunnels connecting the town of Whittier, Alaska. [7]
The building used to be one of the largest in Alaska, often being referred to as "the city under one roof". [8] The building is six stories tall, about 500 feet long by 50–150 feet wide and is approximately 275,000 square feet. [4] The building was cast in place by reinforced concrete on slate/greywacke bedrock, 8,1.
In 1964, Whittier was hit by an earthquake that lasted about four and a half minutes. [9] A total of 13 people died in Whittier and damages to federal and privately owned land was estimated to cost over $5 million. [4] The Buckner Building was slightly damaged, though it was minimized due to the foundation being on bedrock, as opposed to the majority of the town which rests on unconsolidated sediment and therefore received more damage. [9] The Buckner Building also runs northeast–southwest, oblique to the seismic motion, decreasing the effect of the earthquake on the building. [4] There was no structural damage to the building, and subsequent inspections found the building to be in good condition. [9]
The building continued to operate until 1966, at which point the military pulled out and the Port of Whittier was transferred to the General Services Administration. [1] After the military left, the ownership of the Buckner Building went through a handful of private citizens, starting in 1972. [10] At one point, it was owned by one Pete Zamarello who wanted to turn it into the state prison. [6] [10] With the windows and doors missing, the elements began to take it over in the 1980s. [10] Water infiltrated, leaving the building in a constant state of freezing and thawing. [11]
The building went into foreclosure in 2016. The city assumed ownership and a fence was built to keep trespassers out. [10] A structural assessment of the building in 2016 concluded that it was unlikely that any significant portion of the building could be rehabilitated for occupancy. [11]
Alaska is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. It is in the Western United States region. The only other non-contiguous U.S. state is Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost state in the United States. It borders the Canadian territory of Yukon and the province of British Columbia to the east. It shares a western maritime border, in the Bering Strait, with Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north, and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south. Technically, it is a semi-exclave of the U.S., and it is the largest exclave in the world.
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Whittier is a city at the head of the Passage Canal in the U.S. state of Alaska, about 58 miles (93 km) southeast of Anchorage. The city is within the Chugach Census Area, one of the two entities established in 2019 when the former Valdez–Cordova Census Area was dissolved. It is also a port for the Alaska Marine Highway. The population was 272 at the 2020 census, having increased from 220 in 2010.
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After congress approved the completion of the Alaska Railroad from Seward to Fairbanks in 1914, it was decided that a new town should be built as a port and rail hub along the route. The decision was made to develop a site near Ship Creek on Cook Inlet. Survey parties visited the area in 1914 and researched possible routes for the rails and options for siting the new town. Anchorage was originally settled as a tent city near the mouth of Ship Creek in 1915, and a planned townsite was platted alongside the bluff to the south. Anchorage was mostly a company town for the Alaska Railroad for its first several decades of existence.
Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Matanuska-Susitna Borough, had a population of 398,328 in 2020, accounting for more than half the state's population. At 1,706 sq mi (4,420 km2) of land area, the city is the fourth-largest by area in the U.S.
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The Begich Towers Condominium is an American building in the small city of Whittier, Alaska. The structure is notable for being the residence for nearly the entire population of the city as well as containing many of its public facilities. This has earned Whittier the nickname of a "town under one roof".
Portage is a ghost town and former settlement on Turnagain Arm in Alaska, about 47 miles (76 km) southeast of Downtown Anchorage. The town was destroyed in the 1964 Alaska earthquake when the ground in the area sank about six feet (1.8 m), putting most of the town below high tide level. All that remains today are the ruins of a few buildings and a "ghost forest" of trees that died after salt water inundated their root systems. Where there was once a town there is now only a railroad and road junction linking the Seward Highway and the Alaska Railroad to Portage Glacier park and the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, which leads to Whittier.
The J. C. Penney Store in Anchorage, Alaska is a department store and part of the United States retail chain J. C. Penney. The store was established in 1962 on Fifth Avenue in downtown Anchorage, making J. C. Penney one of the first national retailers to establish a presence in the state following Alaska's admission to the union as the 49th state in 1959. The store has been housed in two buildings on the same Fifth Avenue site since it opened.
The Portage Glacier Highway, or Portage Glacier Road, is a highway located in the U.S. state of Alaska. The highway is made up of a series of roads, bridges, and tunnels that connect the Portage Glacier area of the Chugach National Forest and the city of Whittier to the Seward Highway. Most of the highway travels through mainly rural areas just north of the Kenai Peninsula, with the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel passing under Maynard Mountain, part of the Chugach Mountain Range. Parts of the route were first constructed in the early 1900s, and the entire highway was completed on June 7, 2000, as part of the Whittier Access Project. The main portion of the highway traveling from the western terminus to the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center at Portage Lake is designated as National Forest Highway 35 by the United States Forest Service (USFS).
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