Anchorage Daily News

50th anniversary of Alaska statehood

Fifty years of change. Consider for a moment how different Alaska would be today if it had never become a state. Celebrate Alaska's 50th anniversary of statehood with a sneak peak at our statehood story and a list of events.

List of free statehood events

Photos: Statehood memories

Wasilla event postponed because of cold

More on Alaska statehood

Statehood events set for Friday

Alaska's big statehood bash is Friday. Organizers expect a crowd of 2,000 in downtown Anchorage's new Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center. The formal gala will celebrate 50 years of statehood.

DECEMBER 1958: VINTAGE COLLECTION

PDF: Countdown to statehood

As Alaska waited official word of statehood, wars raged in Tibet and Cuba. The U.S. missile program was faltering. Experts said the looming national debt would lead to disaster. The newest state was also the poorest, short on money and jobs. Hopes for oil development had been disappointed by a series of dry holes.

PDF: Countdown to statehood

The year 1958 was a monumental year for Alaska. Nov. 25 that year for the first time ever, Alaskans participated in a national election -- some weeks after the rest of the country had gone to the polls. Sen. John Kennedy came to town to boost Democratic candidates.

OCTOBER 1958: VINTAGE COLLECTION

PDF: Countdown to statehood

With official statehood awaiting only the formality of a presidential proclamation, October 1958 was a busy time. Ed Sullivan came to town to film part of his TV show. Vice President Richard ­Nixon was in Alaska campaigning for Republicans in the new state’s first election. Maine Gov. Edmund Muskie led a delegation of businessmen from his state. Meanwhile, the first shipment of Alaska oil bound for the lower 48 left the Swanson River fields — by truck — and plans moved ahead to detonate an atom bomb and create a harbor near Point Hope.

SEPTEMBER 1958: VINTAGE COLLECTION

PDF: Countdown to statehood

After voters approved the statehood referendum by a wide margin, the nation's attention turned to the soon-to-be-49th state. Politicians wondered what would happen with Hawaii. There was talk of paving the Alaska Highway and building a bridge across Knik Arm. A horrible airplane crash stunned the military communities in Anchorage and Fairbanks. There are many histories of Alaska statehood. This is the way in looked in September 1958 before it became history.

AUGUST 1958: VINTAGE COLLECTION

PDF: Countdown to statehood

Alaskans voted in record numbers to approve statehood in August 1959 and selected candidates to face off in a general election. The School Board agonized over whether to build a second high school. Dreamers broke ground on the city’s first shopping center and said luxury homes would someday dot the slopes of the Chugach range.

JULY 1958: VINTAGE COLLECTION

PDF: Countdfown to statehood

This year the Daily News commemorates the 50th anniversary of Alaska statehood with a series of photos and articles drawn from our archives of material published in 1958, a series leading up to the official date of admission, Jan. 3, 1959. In today's feature, read Daily News stories from 50 years ago.

INTRODUCTION: ALASKA STATEHOOD SECTION

Countdown to Statehood

This year the Daily News commemorates the 50th anniversary of Alaska statehood with a series of photos and articles drawn from our archives of material published in 1958, a series leading up to the official date of admission, Jan. 3, 1959.

Share your memories from 1958

Submit: Photos from 1958