July 2, 1925

The Wrangell Commercial Club, which has been pushing for harbor improvements, has learned with much satisfaction that the War Department is to build a five-foot-high concrete wall on top of the Wrangell breakwater. The specifications are now being drawn up, and as soon as they are received in Wrangell local people will have the opportunity of bidding on the job. Col. Steese states that the job is a simple one which will require approximately 200 cubic yards of concrete. It is to be hoped that local people will go after the contract and get it.

June 30, 1950

Fred B. Asdel Jr., Pacific Coast manager of Merganthaler Linotype Agency, was in Wrangell for a few hours Saturday. Asdel, whose San Francisco office handles all of the Merganthaler business as far east as Kansas and Hawaii and Alaska, has been manager of both the New York and San Franscisco offices of his company. Asdel hadn’t been in town more than a half hour when he was invited on an emergency call to fix the electric bowling machine at the Stikine Club on the theory that a man who manufactures linotypes should know all about pinball machines. After three hours, Asdel admitted he was beat. P.S. George Smith fixed the machine in 10 minutes.

July 2, 1975

Swimming pool bonds, pay for city council members, streamlining of the city ordinance to enact laws, and drawing of official new city borders are all items which will be considered by Wrangell voters in a special election July 29. Council members acted on a recommendation by City Manager Jim Eide and the school board to place a $400,000 general obligation pool bond issue before voters. Eide said the money is needed to complete funding for the project. Pool design is underway and a site has been selected on the high school campus, but a $200,000 lumber mill donation and another nearly $20,000 in other funds in a community swimming pool account will not meet costs, officials say.

June 29, 2000

Plans are in the wind for a Front Street property with long-time community connections -- the site of the old ANB (Alaska Native Brotherhood) Hall. This land, next to the SNO Building, has recently been purchased from the ANB by the Wrangell IRA (Indian Reorganization Act). The IRA is a federally recognized organization through which all federal money for Natives is funneled. In actuality, the land was purchased by Tlingit and Haida and turned over to the IRA due, in part, to the efforts of Augie Schultz, the Tlingit and Haida field representative and community liaison. He said the property will be used as a parking lot until plans and funding can be decided on, but a new ANB Hall is envisioned for the community. The old ANB Hall, which burned to the ground in February 1973, was a focus for weekly Saturday night dances as well as being the heart of the Native community.