Amid Fourth of July festivities, Nolan Center marks decade

It began, in part, with a dance.

In 2004, Alaska's first lady and many residents of the town attended the ribbon cutting for the newly constructed James and Elsie Nolan Center. Amid the festivities and speeches of thanks, then-city manager Bob Prunella called Dorothy Ottesen in front of nearly 450 attendees, according to the July 8, 2004 edition of the Wrangell Sentinel. Ottesen had often vowed to dance in the museum, were it ever constructed.

"The two danced a two-step in front of a clapping and encouraging crowd," the Sentinel article reads in part.

The Nolan Center – convention

center, movie theater, meeting room, and museum – celebrates the anniversary of that dance and the building it inaugurated July 1 with a reception and art auction.

The building was originally

conceived as a replacement for an aging museum building formerly located in what is now a park next to the Irene Ingle Public Library, said Nolan Center director Terri Henson.

"It started out next to where the library is now, there used to be a building," she said. "I believe it was the hospital. This building was very old and had had many different things in it that were important to the community. Thirty plus years ago it housed the museum. The floor fell through, so they decided it wasn't the best place for museum."

At the time, what is now the Nolan Center was water and had been since a 1952 fire destroyed several blocks of downtown, formerly constructed on pilings over that water. Construction of the new museum started in 2003, after a $1.5-million contract was awarded to Wrangell-based low-bidding Johnson Construction. The opening of bids for the project itself drew a small crowd, according to the Sentinel.

Since doors opened on the 4,000-square-foot meeting space, the Center has become a seamless part of Wrangell life.

"I think the community has embraced this building," Henson said. "It does so much. From our elections to our health fair, weddings, memorial services, things that are really happy to what's really sad."

The building is also responsible for attracting dollars to the town, Henson said.

"It brings a lot of money," she said. "In the last five and a half years, this facility is directly responsible for $1.5 million coming into this community. That's just things that are booked here."

"Not only is this building totally something for the community, it's also a revenue-generator," Henson added.

There will be a reception to celebrate the Nolan Center's anniversary with finger foods and baked goods available to the public. The Wrangell Museum will also offer free admission from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. for attendees.