Skagway resident and historian Steve Hites says the Internet is wrong.
“If you look up on Wikipedia and the AI that generates online, they’ll say Ketchikan was the very first city because they call it ‘The First City,’ right? And it’s incorrect,” Hites said. “So don’t trust the computers and don’t trust your AI and don’t trust your Wikipedia … Skagway was the very first incorporated city in Alaska.”
In 1900, the tiny valley of Skagway housed thousands of people, who remained after the heat of the Klondike Gold Rush cooled. Hites described what the town looked like.
“We were a growing, booming, extremely busy community,” he said. “Clubs were forming — the Eagles Club, the Elks Club, the photography club, the Skagway Alpine Club. There were children and mothers arriving. People were making Skagway their home.”
Hites said the focus would soon turn to Nome’s gold rush. But for now, Skagway was still king.
“But at that particular moment in time, with the railroad being completed, with the docks in place, the town was humming,” he said. You can imagine, it’s just after the solstice and the sun is up. It’s a beautiful time to be alive and a great time to be in Skagway, Alaska. Anything was possible.”
That year, Congress passed an act allowing cities in Alaska to elect a representative government. Skagwegians quickly petitioned Judge Melville C. Brown to incorporate the town.
“And this petition is still on file with the state of Alaska archives, signed by 91 citizens of our town – they only needed 60 to petition the judge,” Hites said. “And it described the boundaries, how many houses there were, and that there were, quote: 3,500 souls that lived in Skagway. That was a little bit much more than there were.”
On June 28, 1900, residents gathered for a vote at Skagway’s City Hall — which still stands today. It’s a small log cabin on Fifth Avenue, between a bakery and an axe-throwing shop. It’s wrapped in Tyvek to protect the deteriorating wood.
The vote to incorporate won by a 4-1 landslide, with 246 for and 60 against. John Hyslop, the chief engineer for White Pass & Yukon Route Railway, became the first mayor of Skagway.
And it came just in time to secure Skagway’s place in the record books. The vote to incorporate beat Juneau by one day. Ketchikan incorporated about two months later.
Hites said that anyone who wants to learn more about Skagway’s history, should turn to another local historian.
“Compliments to Jeff Brady for his amazing book, ‘Skagway City of the New Century,’ which much of this information I’m giving you is taken right out of …” Hites said.
Hites, who came to Skagway in 1972, started by washing dishes at the Golden North Hotel. He now owns a tour company and performs a one-man-show, with his guitar and harmonica, aboard cruise ships that berth in Skagway’s docks.
“I do a 40 minute production which covers 30,000 years of Alaska history, from the Ice Age right up through till now, including Alaska statehood,” Hites said. “…But I believe it’s a way that we can tell people, after their day in town, why the ship stopped here. And why this place is important, in terms of Alaska’s story.”
And that story continues. Skagwegians interested in securing their place in the history books can gather for a town photo at Shoreline Park from 4 to 5 p.m. this Saturday. Gold rush costumes are encouraged. Refreshments and a self-guided historical walking tour will be available.
