The Way We Were

Nov. 3, 1921

The City Library was formally opened Monday night at the City Hall by the Library Board and the Civic Club, the women’s organization which sponsored the library movement. A number of citizens attended the opening and inspected the books. Dr. R.J. Diven complimented the club representatives, including Mrs. Gearing, the chairman, and Mrs. Patterson, the secretary treasurer, for the work they had done in organizing the library, and Miss Helen Hofstad who, as librarian, had catalogued and arranged the books of which there are 802 on the shelves. T.C. Havens donated an airplane model which has been hung in a conspicuous place where it may be studied by the older boys who wish to try airplane construction. A number of library cards were taken out Monday and it is hoped that the public will make use of the library privileges to the fullest extent. Any donations for the library, either books or money, may be given to Miss Hofstad.

Oct. 25, 1946

Announcement was made this week by Howard Baltzo and George Sumption of their purchase, from William and Edna Sinclair, of the City Store, one of Wrangell’s pioneer establishments. The City Store was founded in 1900 by the late Donald Sinclair who came to Alaska from Scotland in 1895, settling in Wrangell in 1897. Mr. Sinclair worked for the Duncan and McKinnon company merchants, and following the death of Duncan in 1899 the store closed. The following year Mr. Sinclair bought out the location and opened a store of his own, The City Store. The new management intends to continue the store along the same lines as the Sinclairs have operated it, at least for the present, carrying groceries, dry goods, furniture and hardware.

Oct. 29, 1971

A private consulting firm may be called in to help the city decide if it should purchase the Wrangell Wharf or build a new wharf facility. The city council voted Tuesday to ask three such firms to make preliminary proposals on how they would conduct such a study, and to provide cost estimates. City Manager Kester Dotts was asked to notify suitable firms. The city has been studying the feasibility of purchasing the wharf, whose Seattle owners have indicated it will be razed soon for economic reasons. Two studies provided by the owners reportedly have pronounced the 350-foot wharf structurally sound. The wharf is the only public facility in Wrangell for handling tourships. Tourships made more than 60 visits to town during the past season.

Oct. 31, 1996

At the end of this week, the Wrangell Library will have new wiring and a computer server unit to allow local residents faster and more efficient access to the “information superhighway” - the Internet. Wrangell as a tourist and commercial site just got its own worldwide web address: http://www.wrangell.com (All small letters, please note.) Currently, “surfing the ‘Net” is still a somewhat difficult proposition for local computer users. For several years, the library has offered free Internet access through the SLED system (Statewide Library Electronic Doorway.) But private users experience delays and bottlenecks when trying to dial out of Wrangell, primarily because of the 9600-baud limit on transmission lines -- considered archaic in today’s fast-changing world. The new line out will have a speed of 28.8K or 56K. The library has dozens of reference works for those trying to get up to speed, including “Internet for Dummies,” tutorial disks and Internet Yellow Pages.