The way we were

March 13, 1924

Work will begin about the first of the month on a third story for the Wrangell Hotel. E. G. W. Morris will have charge of the work. In addition to the work of adding a third story, there will be many improvements throughout the entire building. Hot and cold running water will be supplied in all rooms. Twelve or 15 baths will be distributed over the building. When the third story is completed the Wrangell Hotel will have 76 rooms. The Wrangell Hotel, when the addition is completed, will be ahead of the town, but there is little doubt that Mayor Grant’s confidence in the future of Wrangell will be more than justified, and that still further additions will be necessary within the next five or 10 years.

March 11, 1949

Thirty years of service to the community, state and nation by the American Legion will be recognized at an anniversary party to be given by the American Legion Auxiliary in honor of the Merlin Elmer Palmer Post at the Legion Dugout March 17, on the Legion’s Thursday meeting night. All members of the local post and their wives and girlfriends are invited to the party. “In the 30 years since it was founded, the American Legion has been a great source of strength for the protection of American ideals and institutions, as well as for guarding the welfare of veterans and their families,” said Mrs. Jewel Binkley, president of the auxiliary. “The Merlin Elmer Palmer Post of the Legion has been a constant asset to our city. The anniversary party is planned to give proper recognition to this long service.”

March 13, 1974

At a public hearing attended by more than 300 people, the state Boundary Commission Thursday weighed a city proposal for a massive 27,400-acre annexation. The state body recorded nearly three and one-half hours of testimony, accepted written statements including a petition signed by a purported 290 opponents, and heard oral testimony from 16 other opponents. Included in the area proposed for annexation are 760 residents and their homes, the Alaska Wood Products mill, Wrangell Airport, Wrangell Institute, five trailer parks, the entire watershed serving Wrangell’s two reservoirs, and more than 256 miles of coastline, plus hundreds of acres of undeveloped national forest land. If approved, the annexation would place the northern third of 35-mile-long Wrangell Island in the city. The commission is expected to reach a decision sometime before the end of April.

March 11, 1999

Another step forward in funding Wrangell’s schools for the coming year was taken at Monday’s school board meeting. The board adopted a budget which included cuts discussed at the previous week’s special meeting but retained all programs and teachers. As a result of budget approval, contracts for all 26 tenured teachers were also approved. Superintendent Woody Wilson reported on several items including a resolution passed by the state school board opposing “any school voucher plan that would take public money from public schools and give it to private schools.” The Wrangell School Board agreed to consider a similar resolution at its April meeting.