Artifact of the Month: August 2025

Ketchikan Incorporates

A petition to incorporate the town of Ketchikan went to the U.S. District Court on July 16, 1900. By August 25, not only was Ketchikan an official town, but an election had been held with Mike Martin winning the "President" position, effectively becoming the first mayor, and Willis Bryant elected as the first City Clerk.

Among the arguments in favor of incorporation was the need for schools. Many men, miners in particular, had left their families behind so that their children could have access to an education. Ketchikan's growth had reached the tipping point where its residents were looking for the refinements that only a taxed population could provide. Many of the essential businesses were already in place and were listed in the petition as proof of Ketchikan's industrious efforts:

Four large wholesale mercantile stores, the largest cannery in Alaska, six saloons, two drug stores, a church, two hotels, four restaurants, two meat markets, two barber shops, a tailor shop, two laundries, two shoe-repairing shops, two large halls, Red Men's Benevolent Society, two assay offices, a news stand, two wharves, warehouse, boat building shop, Office of the U.S. Commissioner, Office of the U.S. Marshal, dairy, three law offices, mining recorder, two dentists, four physicians, hospital.

While the petition listed the number of Ketchikan residents as 800, other sources indicate only 454 people had made this their permanent home.

Ketchikan's first official seal depicts a hard rock miner, reflecting the community's principal economic focus at the start of the 20th century. The seal was used to emboss government documents for the "Town of Ketchikan, Alaska." Visit the Tongass Historical Museum to see the seal on display in our main exhibit, Ketchikan Is...


Object ID #: THS 66.1.1.1