Alaska Stories

Pictured above is the Muldoon homestead, built in the winter of 1940 - 1941

To get to his Homestead, He needed a Road

Muldoon Road in Anchorage, is named after Arnold L Muldoon who actually built the road from the Glenn Highway to his homestead.

His original road was a “corduroy road”, which was made by clearing a path and then tree trunks were laid across the ground.

Arnold’s path quickly became known as “Muldoon’s Road”.

BONUS

The story of Arnold L Muldoon is a fascinating look at Anchorage history, including two men who tried to run him off his homestead.

To learn more, take a look at this story from I Love Muldoon and enjoy.

Whitney Road

Bud and Daisy Whitney first came to the mouth of Ship Creek in 1911, years ahead of the railroad.

Then in 1914 they moved up the creek and built a new homestead approximately where the Boniface gate to Joint Base Elmendorf - Richardson is located today.

Whitney Road is named after them. It’s located near Ship Creek and Government Hill.

BONUS

You can learn more about Bud and Daisy Whitney.

Take a look at Anchorage Pioneers Bud and Daisy Whitney and discover early Anchorage.

Yes, You can Share This Edition

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Thanks for reading and listening to Alaska Stories. This post is public, so feel free to share it.

Klevin Street

This Anchorage street, located in the Russian Jack Park neighborhood, was named after a homesteader named Nels Kleven.

Notice that the spelling of the street name, Klevin, varies slightly from the spelling of Nels Kleven’s last name.

Spenard Road

Spenard Road, 1958, photo courtesy of Linda Miller

The sign above reads, “Entering SPENARD “The Land of the Free for All”.

Now, Spenard, Spenard Road and Spenard Lake are all named after one of the most colorful characters from the very early days of Anchorage while it was still a tent city.

Joseph A. Spenard decided he could supply the town site with lumber. So he went into a forest preserve and decided to cut down those trees and transport them back to tent city where he could sell them.

Like Arnold Muldoon, Joe needed to build a corduroy road from Tent City to where he was cutting trees. Spenard convinced a couple of the early civic clubs to help him. When the road was complete, it became known as Spenard Road.

BONUS

Joe Spenard was a colorful character.

Take a look at Did Daring Joe Drive His Car into a Pool Hall? and enjoy.

Lane Street

Hotel owner Harry Lane

Our research didn’t discover much about the hotel owner, Harry Lane or the Crescent Hotel, except that the hotel was located on 4th Avenue.

However, Mr. Lane was later honored with an Anchorage street named after him.

And by the way, if you know anything about Anchorage pioneer Harry Lane, we would love to hear from you.

BONUS

Visit Anchorage Memories.com

A treasure chest of memories of Anchorage, Alaska

Take a look at Anchorage Memories.com and enjoy.

Russian Jack

The newspaper ad above was to promote Jacob Marunenko, “Russian Jack” for the Fur Rendezvous Mardi Gras King.

The ad ran in the February 14, 1948, Anchorage Daily Times. Russian Jack lost by a landslide, but was declared the “Prince” of the event.

Between Joe Spenard and Russian Jack, it would be difficult to tell which was more of a “colorful character”.

In the early days, the residents of tent city gave each other nicknames. And since Jacob Marunenko, who also went by “Jack”, was Russian, he became known as “Russian Jack”.

One of Russian Jack’s endeavors, involved selling moon shine, known locally as “squirrel juice”. But since the Alaska Railroad prohibited the sale or consumption of alcohol at tent city, folks like Russian Jack built stills and came up with interesting ways to sell their brew.

Russian Jack went way out of town, became a squatter and built a cabin in the woods where he also hid his still. The area had a natural spring and was later named Russian Jack Springs.

BONUS

His story is a fascinating, and his name lives on in Anchorage neighborhoods and parks.

Take a look at this story of Russian Jack and enjoy.

Hoyt Street

Hoyt Motor company, on 5th and E streets

Harry Hoyt owned one of the first car dealerships in Anchorage.

Harry and his wife were also devoted outdoors adventurers.

Hoyt Street is named after Harry Hoyt.

BONUS

Take a look at the following story from a member of the Alaska VIP Club.

Gene tell us this story:

“My first real job was at Hoyt Motors. It was in 1949, and I was 15-16 years old. I greased cars, fixed tires including large truck tires with split ring rims. One of my main jobs was washing new Dodge and Plymouth cars. I learned to drive in those new cars. I wasn't about to tell the boss that I didn't know how to drive. I Will never forget when, at a stop, the guy in front started to back up, and I couldn't get that fluid drive Dodge to go into reverse. He stopped just in time!”

Marijane Street

Mary Jane Dougherty of the Alaska VIP Club has an Anchorage subdivision street named after her.

Mary’s stepfather created the subdivision and named many of the streets after family members.

The subdivision opened in the late 1960s. Note that the street name varies from her real name.

Do You Or Your Family Have An Anchorage Street Named After You (or them)?

Or, do you know the origin of another Anchorage street name? We’d love to know.

From our North Stars (that’s you)

The following is a comment from our “Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes” edition

Edi commented:

“When Mt. Spurr erupted, I remember saying that at noon it was “darker than midnight,” because of all of the ash in air.”

Contact Mike and Mary

You guessed it…

The picture above isn’t of Mike and Mary of Alaska Stories.

It’s a picture of our daughter Nikki, son Christopher and our family dog “Snoopy”.

Did you enjoy this edition of Alaska Stories?

You can easily contact us with your comments and suggestions.

Either reply to this email or Contact Us to say, “I have an Anchorage street name for you.”

Until Next Time

Mike and Mary

Alaska Stories