June 19, 1919
Friday the thirteenth was a lucky day for the town of Wrangell. Donald Sinclair, a prominent Wrangell merchant, was advised Friday by Judge Jennings that the department had allowed Wrangell a new $6,000 jail and courthouse. Mr. Sinclair took word of the new building on his return to Wrangell. He said to the Dispatch that for that amount a very substantial building could be erected to accommodate the U.S. commissioner, deputy marshal and jail, as the Government owned an excellent site. The present building in use at Wrangell is an old log affair, which was originally used as an old trading post by the Hudson Bay Company.
June 23, 1944
June 20, 1944. That, in years to come, will be an important date in Wrangell history. It was the day this week when Mayor Fred G. Hanford, Street Superintendent Joe Weaver assisted by Walter Coulter, Bill Hanson, Mike Lynch and Jacko Brown, also assisted by a large group of “sidewalk supervisors,” poured the first concrete for Wrangell’s first paving – Front Street.
As the first strip materialized under Joe’s able trowel, other citizens rallied to the cause. The Mayor, himself, took a turn at the wheeling; theater operator Fred Cunningham got an electrical ailment of the concrete mixer remedied in no time and directly had Barber Lowell Sturtevant straining himself on the other end of the concrete tapper.
Paving on Front Street in Wrangell was becoming a reality, and Wrangell’s citizens didn’t mean maybe. Weaver’s crew was laying as much as 40 feet in two hours and with volunteer workers, the Mayor estimated at least one side of the street would be down in a week.
June 19, 1969
The USS Pickaway will visit Wrangell July 3-7. USS Pickaway is an attack transport. Pickaway is home ported in San Diego, California and is a unit of Amphibious Squadron FIVE. The mission of the ship, together with its landing craft, is to transport troops and their combat equipment efficiently and comfortably to their destination, whether that destination be a staging area, a contested beach or home. The ships motto, “ Spectemur Agendo,” means “ Judge us by our own deeds.” For its efforts during World War II and the Korean War, Pickaway is entitled to display the following ribbons: Asiatic Pacific, with bronze star, American Campaign, World War II Victory, National Defense, China Service, Navy Occupation, Korean Service with silver and bronze stars, United Nations and Korean Presidential Unit Citations.
June 23, 1994
Albert Binkley, 83, has been named Grand Marshal of Wrangell’s Fourth of July celebration, recognizing his many years as a resident. It is believed that only a few people, all born on the island, have spent more years calling the island “home.”
Binkley tested many of Alaska’s occupations before settling into fishing, which he still does for a couple months each summer. Binkley has witnessed many changes during his years in Wrangell, not the least of which has been the ships plying the Inside Passage waters. “There were steam ships, back then – almost daily,” he said. “One time, on a Fourth of July, there were three of them at dock.”
In thinking back on his life in Wrangell, the octogenarian says, “It has been a great life. Wish that I could do it over again.”
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