Based in the Interior Alaska city of Fairbanks, Mt. McKinley Bank is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. But with the news from the Department of the Interior on Sunday that the mountain formerly known as Mount McKinley has been renamed Denali, Executive Vice President Bart LeBon returned to his office Monday facing new questions about the future of the name.
"When I left the bank on Friday, this was the last thing on my mind," LeBon said Monday.
Sunday's announcement that Interior Secretary Sally Jewell had signed an order changing the mountain's name was met with a flood of reactions nationwide. Alaska's congressional delegation voiced universal approval. Many Alaskans took to social media to celebrate the changing of the mountain's name to Denali, derived from a Koyukon Athabascan name meaning "high one" or "tall one."
As House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, was saying he is "deeply disappointed in this decision" to remove Ohio native William McKinley's name from the mountain, some visitors to Alaska started grabbing up outdated Mount McKinley memorabilia.
But what does the decision mean for Alaska businesses that have been using the name McKinley, in many cases for decades?
At stake for Mt. McKinley Bank is the company's brand, which in turn affects its reputation, LeBon said.
"Our big challenge moving forward is we want to try to protect our branding," LeBon said, notably the bank's logo, a blue and white image of the mountain emblazoned with the words "Mt. McKinley Bank."
"Can we keep the mountain image and our name?" LeBon said.
While the name-change suggestion has been circling around for years, Sunday's announcement was "a bit of a surprise," given that it came from the Obama administration, not Congress, in one fell swoop.
"It's been thrust upon us in an overnight fashion so … I guess we need to take this up now," LeBon said. The board of trustees will address the issue during its next monthly board meeting, he said.
Mt. McKinley Bank is far from alone. A search of Alaska business names reveals dozens of corporations with "McKinley" in their names.
"It's going to cost me a fortune and I am very unhappy about it," McKinley View Lodge owner Jean Cary Richardson said Monday from her business near Denali National Park.
Richardson is planning to change the lodge name, and that means changing more than just the business -- signage, "checkbooks, bank accounts, everything," Richardson said.
"We've had this name for 50 years, so it's kind of a blow in the stomach to us," Richardson said. Richardson's business was the first in Denali State Park, she said; her mother had homesteaded on the land.
"It's hard on old businesses that have been here for a long time," she said.
Not every business is eyeing an imminent name change, though.
Wayne Robinson, bookkeeper with Mt. McKinley Fence Co., said that the mountain's name change is "not a big deal."
"We've been here since 1961; it doesn't really matter to me one bit," Robinson said.
Fairbanks' Mt. McKinley Animal Hospital also isn't looking to make any changes. "We've been Mt. McKinley since 1971, so we're not going to change," receptionist Courtney Gott said.
Meanwhile, Denali National Park and Preserve employees are celebrating the name change, said volunteer program manager Kathleen Kelly.
"Like most Alaskans, we have been using the name Denali except when it's in a formal context," Kelly said.
"I think it's going to be easier," Kelly said. "Especially (for) the interpretive use rangers. They can use one word for their personal use and their professional use."
The mountain was named for McKinley, before he became president, by gold prospector William A. Dickey, who had just received word of McKinley's nomination as a candidate in 1896. McKinley died without setting foot in Alaska; he was assassinated at the start of his second term.
Correction: This story originally misidentified Wayne Robinson as the owner of Mt. McKinley Fence Co. He is the bookkeeper; Rich Lindstrom is the owner.