City mulls razing site where 1st Alaska flag flew
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The fate of one of Alaska’s most historic yet neglected structures could be decided today as city officials in Seward weigh whether to demolish a former Methodist boarding school where the Alaska territorial flag was first flown almost a century ago and where its Alaska Native designer lived.
Benny Benson was among the orphans and displaced children who lived at the Jesse Lee Home, many of whom were sent there after the Spanish flu devastated Alaska Native villages. Benson, a 13-yearold Aleut boy sent to the home after his mother died of the flu, won a territorywide contest in 1927 to design the flag, which became the state flag after statehood was granted in 1959.
Benson is believed to be the only Indigenous person to design a state flag, said Dorene Lorenz, a former Seward City Council member who has been behind efforts to save the structure for years.
“I don’t understand why you would rush to destroy a landmark when there’s obvious interested parties wanting to present to you other options,” she said.
One such group, the Alaska Association for Historic Preservation, plans to make a last-ditch effort to save the structure by making a presentation during a public hearing before today’s scheduled vote.
“We got a lot of people who are anxious to get working on this,” the group’s president, Trish Neal, said. “And so I have no qualms that we can’t pull this off. It’s just we have to get the city council to back off and let us do this.”
What to do with the site has been a source of contention since the home was heavily damaged in a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in 1964, the second most powerful ever recorded. One of the three main buildings was damaged and demolished after the quake. The boarding school was eventually moved to Anchorage, and the Seward site has sat unused since.
Attempts by individuals and a group over the years to refurbish the home have sputtered and stalled. Seward Mayor Christy Terry said when the Friends of the Jesse Lee Home lost a multimillion-dollar state grant a few years ago, ownership reverted to the city. The Legislature allocated $1 million of that to the city.
She said there is no rush to demolish the site but the council has a June 30, 2021, deadline to use state funding.
Retired Alaska State Historian Jo Antonson said the Jesse Lee Home was an important institution in state history, noting that the Army used the buildings during World War II and even camouflaged them using paint to protect them from the enemy.
“It’s just sort of disappointing that the city and the residents have never embraced trying to fix up the buildings that remain and find a good use for them,” she said.