The Mayflower School aka the Douglas Island Community Center is a two-and-one-half story, wood frame structure is at the corner of St. Anns and Savikko Road on the northwest corner. The building sits on a banked slope overlooking Gastineau channel, and Juneau can be seen to the northwest.

The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs built Mayflower School in 1933-1934 to serve as a model for Native schools in Alaska. The Bureau wanted the school to provide vocational education for Native children and to serve as a community center for the Douglas Tllngits.

The Daily Alaska Empire (10/13/35) informed its readers that the operation of Mayflower School was a "radical departure from the old."

The handsome building represents a significant tie with the past for many in the Douglas Native community and is the only Native school building in the Juneau-Douglas area still standing. It is the only Colonial Revival Bureau of Indian Affairs school in Alaska. 

Education of Alaska Natives began when the Russian-Amerlcan Company and Russian Orthodox Church opened schools in Alaska at their major posts to provide education and vocational training for Creole and Native children. After the transfer of Alaska to the United States in 1867, the church continued to support several schools around Alaska.

The U S Government did not undertake responsibility for educating all Alaska Native children although it required the Alaska Commercial Company to operate schools for the Aleut children on the Pribilof Islands as a condition of the company’s 20-year exclusive lease to hunt fur seals on the Islands. Shortly after the transfer, the residents of Sitka supported a public school for all children interested in attending, but it closed in 1870 when the city's economy declined.

The Presbyterian Home Mission Society was the first American missionary group to open schools in Alaska for the Native children. In 1877, their first school opened at Fort Wrangell, and by 1884 the Presbyterians had schools at Sitka, Haines, Hoonah, Fort Tongass and Howkan.

Finally, in 1885 Congress provided for the establishment and support of public schools in Alaska "for Native and non-native children and appropriated $25,000 for this purpose. After Alaska became a territory, the Territorial Legislature established a Department of Education in 1917. Most of the schools supported by the Territory were in the larger non-Native communities. Control of education for Alaska Natives was transferred from the Secretary of the Interior to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The community of Douglas started as a mining camp in 1881 and grew due to the success of the adjacent lode gold Treadwell Mines. Many Natives moved to Douglas and worked at the mines.

The Friends Society of Kansas sent Elwood W. Weisner and Francis W. Baugham to Douglas to establish a school and home for Natives in the summer of 1887. The home accommodated 14 boarding students and the same number of day students. Because it was the only school on Douglas Island, it was attended by both Native and non-Natlve children. It operated until 1902, when the missionaries moved to Kake, another Southeast Alaska community.

The federal government built a school in Douglas for Native children in 1890 at a cost of $900. In 1902, a second school was constructed on the beach near the Native village that served until it burned in 1926. In their annual reports to the Bureau of Education, teachers repeatedly complained about the poor condition of the school.

The fire of October 11, 1926 burned the entire Douglas Indian village that included 42 homes, the school, stores and churches, as well as a number of homes outside of the Native village. After the fire, the teacher, Rose Davis, requested permission to rent quarters for herself and the school.

From 1926 to 1934 Native children in Douglas attended school in a variety of locations. One informant recalls classes being held in the upstairs of an old theater. In 1933-1934 the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs constructed a number of school buildings throughout Alaska from a Public Works Administration grant of $175,000 supplement ed by $30,000 in Territorial funds. By September 1934, new schools stood at Teller, Buckland, Little Diomede Island, Hydaburg, and Douglas. The Douglas School cost $9,500.

The name Douglas Indian Community Center was replaced with Mayflower School. This name was derived from Mayflower Island, a tiny island located in Gastlneau Channel off Douglas Island. The school built by local citizens under the direction of the Southwestern District of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Alaska region, was a handsome white-bodied, green-shuttered, Colonial Revival building. Mayflower School operated as a school for Douglas Native children only for six years.

In 1940, it merged with the Juneau Government School. Native children from Douglas and Juneau were divided by grades between the two schools. In 1948, the school system for Native children merged with the local public school system. The Bureau of Indian Affairs turned over the school to the City of Douglas to be used for school purposes. Douglas and Juneau public schools consolidated in 1955, Juneau and Douglas city governments consolidated in 1970, and Mayflower School was added to the real estate holdings of the new political incorporation.

Rose Davis taught Native children in Douglas for 20 years, and was the principal teacher at Mayflower School from 1934 to 1942. The Dally Alaska Empire reported on June 2, 1934 that starting July 1st Mrs. Davis would advance to all-year service because the Bureau of Indian Affairs envisioned Mayflower School as a "real community center in connection with the wonderful facilities of the new school building."

The newspaper quoted Charles W. Hawkesworth, Chief of the Bureau, in its October 13, 1935 issue on the new approach to education that Mayflower School would pursue. It would have a more home like setting, and emphasize "a practical type of education." Children would learn vocational skills such as taxidermy, boat and furniture building, coffin making, weaving, and rug making. In the classroom, the children had tables and chairs suited to their size instead of benches and desks.

Mrs. Davis opened the library to the community in the evenings. The recreation room had a basketball hoop, and was also open after school hours. The Native community was encouraged to use the showers, laundry facilities, and kitchen in the school. The Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood regularly held meetings at the school, and the organizational meeting of the Douglas Indian Association took place in the recreation room.

National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form

Mayflower School Photos

The Juneau Memorial Library, aka the Veterans Memorial Building, located at 114 W. Fourth Street, has a commanding presence, sitting on a hillside at the corner of Fourth and Main streets, across from the Alaska State Capitol and overlooking downtown Juneau.

The building stands on a prominent location in the community, next to Alaska's state capitol, on a hill overlooking downtown Juneau with a residential area behind it.

The Juneau Memorial Library, completed in 1951, was the first major community project initiated by Juneau residents. The Juneau Rotary Club undertook construction of a library building for the town's residents as a memorial to the men and women of the area who fought in World Wars I and II.

A local architectural firm designed the stately reinforced concrete building incorporating Neo-Classical Revival architectural elements.

The building housed the community's library until the mid-1980s. It is now the city's museum, continuing to be a public facility serving the community. The period of significance starts in 1951 when the library opened and ends in 1959 to encompass the statehood event.

Following the discovery of gold on Gold Creek in Silver Bow Basin in 1880, the town of Juneau was established. It became a center for large scale hard-rock mining. The city incorporated in 1900 and became Alaska's capital in 1906. It was Alaska's largest community from 1920 to 1950.

In 1897, the Juneau Public Library Association, comprised mainly of local ministers, organized and provided a library collection that was housed in the federal courthouse. In 1898, the building burned and the library with it. A library was not reestablished.

In 1906, a party of American Library Association visitors met with Juneau's mayor and left a collection of books. The mayor told the group he would try to get the City Council to pass an ordinance to establish a free library. Apparently, the Carnegie Library Foundation Association made an offer of a building to the city after the visit.

Juneau did not have a public library again, however, until 1914 when the Juneau Draper Club, a civic group, founded one. The club bought books, rented a small building, and hired a librarian. They opened a reading room in August 1914 and a circulation department in December 1914.

A Juneau Library Association organized in April 1915, and at the end of the year reported 141 monthly subscribers and 55 yearly subscribers to the association. In a letter to the librarian at the Seattle Public Library, dated May 18, 1915, the Association's president wrote that "Our library is small, consisting of about fifteen hundred books, and at present the position pays $75 per month. It is a free circulating library with a reading room. We prefer a lady, one not too young, and a Protestant, If you know of any person or persons who would like this position, will you please have them apply as soon as possible?"

On the first anniversary the library cited impressive statistics. They had 1,180 borrowers, 350 of whom were children. During December 1915 there had been 700 people visiting the reading room. The Draper Club paid $150 to operate the library, and in 1915, the president, Ben D. Stewart, said the group could not continue to support it. Stewart, however, also was the city's mayor. He persuaded the City Council to pledge $1,800 a year for library support.

The City of Juneau took over the library on August 16, 1918, and housed it in two rooms on the top floor of Juneau City Hall. The Juneau librarian wrote an article, "Libraries in Alaska," that appeared in the American Library Association's journal in 1918. The librarian mentioned that Juneau "has not been able to accept the generous offer of a $20,000 building" made the year before by the Carnegie Library Foundation. By the end of World War II the two rooms were badly overcrowded.

The Juneau City Hall was razed in 1950 for construction of the Alaska Office Building, and the library moved temporarily to the Teen Age Club on South Seward Street.

Rev. Herbert Hillerman, Juneau Rotary Club president, announced at the August 28, 1945, meeting shortly after World War II ended that building a library as a memorial and tribute to area veterans of the World Wars would be the Club's top priority.

The next year, under the leadership of B. Frank Heintzleman, Ben D. Stewart, and James C. Ryan, the Rotary Club purchased the Olds family property at the corner of West Fourth and Main streets and hired architects Ross and Malcolm to design a building to be the community library.

The federal Public Works Administration advanced funds to pay for architectural services. The architects completed the drawings in 1946 and the Juneau Memorial Library Board of the Rotary Club sold the land that year for $2,500.00 to the city.

In 1949 a new Alaska Public Works program allowed the architects to increase the size of the building and add the basement to the plans. The Rotary Club then called upon members of the community for donations to construct the building. "Want to buy a ticket?" was heard throughout town. Service clubs, fraternal organizations, church groups and members of the community sold tickets to bazaars, hosted home cooked food sales, dinners, card parties, dances, white elephant sales, minstrel shows and even peddled chances to win an automobile. The Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood performed tribal dances and the Filipino Community held a special dance and costume exhibition.

Residents raised $82,000 and the federal Public Works Administration provided another $71,000 for construction. Ann Coleman, longtime and beloved community librarian, broke ground for the building on September 10, 1950.

At the dedication ceremony November 11, 1951, Heintzleman said, "this project represents I think the finest example in this territory of community spirit and enterprise working for a cultural project to benefit 'old and young, rich and poor'".

The construction of the library was the first major community effort to "obtain a facility of major size by the direct method of public contributions," making it an example of community planning and development in Juneau. Heintzleman insisted the library serve some twenty smaller communities in the Juneau area as well.

Many local residents view the building as a landmark in the community and have fond memories of it. In 1951, Mike Blackwell was eleven and remembers being paid twenty-five cents an hour to work for Miss Lomen, the librarian, after school each day for two hours and on Saturday afternoons.

The first floor housed fiction and non-fiction and had a high shelf with books children were not allowed to check out. Blackwell remembers that one could examine the loan record in the books, and he often looked at who had checked out a particular book. He also recalls that the new building was spacious and "for a long time there was a lot more room than books."

The library was designed to house 18,000 volumes. The children's section in the basement was called the Ann Coleman Room.

Today, the building is home to the Juneau-Douglas City Museum. According to former librarians Donna Pierce and Barbara Berg, because of the strong emotional attachment to the building the City Museum was the only suitable tenant.

At the May 16, 1989, assembly meeting, local Veterans of Foreign Wars and Donna Olds Barton suggested the building be rededicated as the Veterans Memorial Building. The rededication ceremony was held July 1, 1989, as part of the opening of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum in the building. The building is now dedicated to "all the men and women of the Juneau Area who served in our country's Foreign Wars."

On the library property is the Alaska Statehood Site, significant as the official site of the statehood ceremony and first raising of the 49 star flag on July 4, 1959.

Non-voting territorial delegate James Wickersham introduced the first bill for Alaska statehood in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916. Low population, geographical separation from the other states, and how Alaskans would pay the expenses of statehood delayed statehood for more than forty years.

Finally, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the proclamation admitting Alaska as the 49tb state of the union on January 3, 1959. By executive order the new 49 star national flag did not become the official ensign until July 4th of the year.

An estimated three thousand people stood at attention as the first 49-star flag was raised in front of the Juneau Memorial Library by a military honor guard on July 4, 1959.

Author, lecturer, world traveler and New Yorker, Lowell Thomas was master of ceremonies. At 3:00 p.m. Governor Bill Egan spoke to the crowd while the flag was being raised. One of the territorial governors, Waino E. Hendrickson, was present. The site, marked with a commemorative plaque between the flagpoles, was dedicated at the ceremony.

Two large weather balloons carrying flags of Alaska and the nation were released in the hopes they would carry the news of Alaska statehood to the rest of the world. A parade went past the front of the library after the ceremony.

The July 6, 1959, edition of the Juneau newspaper reported "Special guests from across the nation observed the 49th star flag raising ceremonies from stands at one wing of the State Office Building. The State signs were carried by members of a delegation of Westinghouse appliance dealers who flew to Juneau for the ceremonies." The flagpoles at the site fly a 49 star flag and an Alaska flag and the plaque can be read by people passing on the sidewalk.

Only two other sites in Alaska associated with Alaska statehood have been documented and designated historic places. Constitution Hall on the University of Alaska campus at Fairbanks was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 3, 2005, for its association with the 1955-1956 Constitutional Convention.

The American Flag Raising Site at Sitka, designated a National Historic Landmark on October 15, 1966, is another site of an official statehood ceremony, but it is better known as the site of the ceremonial transfer of Alaska from Russian to U.S. administration in 1867.

Two totem poles, Harnessing the Atom by Amos Wallace installed in 1970 and Four Story-Pole by John Wallace installed in 1994, are on the property and counted as non-contributing objects to its placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

National Register of Historic Register Nomination Form

Juneau Memorial Library Photos

Primary Name: McKinley, Irene D. Lundstrom

Filed as: irene_d_lundstrom_mckinley

Also known as: Irene Lundstrom; Irene D. McKinley

Occupation / Association: President, Juneau Women's Igloo No. 6 (1950); Proofreader, Juneau Empire; Secretary / Bookkeeper

Born: January 10, 1910, Douglas, Alaska

Died: April 2002, Juneau, Alaska

Parents: Alfred Lundstrom; Maija (May) Milumaki Lundstrom

Spouse: Jerry McKinley (m. June 3, 1933; div. 1965)

Children: Irene McKinley; Connie McKinley; Janice McKinley Nordenson

Associated places: Douglas, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; Excursion Inlet, Alaska; Seattle, Washington; Reno, Nevada

Keywords: Irene D. Lundstrom McKinley, Irene McKinley, Irene Lundstrom, Juneau Women's Igloo No. 6 President 1950, Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Empire proofreader, Alaska Division of Marine Transportation, Douglas Alaska residents

Biography

Irene D. Lundstrom McKinley was born in Douglas, Alaska, on January 10, 1910, the daughter of Alfred Lundstrom and Maija (May) Milumaki Lundstrom. During her childhood, the family spent summers at Excursion Inlet, where they worked in the cannery and cold storage operations.

Her first automobile, little more than a frame with wheels, engine, and steering wheel, was built for her by her brother Al Lundstrom. She enjoyed driving it around Douglas and Juneau with her close friend Ada Sturrock.

After graduating from Juneau High School in 1928, McKinley attended business school in Seattle, Washington. While studying there, she worked as a nanny and housekeeper for a local family in exchange for room and board.

In 1933, she met Jerry McKinley at a dance where he was playing the saxophone. The couple married on June 3, 1933. They had three daughters, Irene, Connie, and Janice. Irene and Jerry McKinley later divorced in 1965.

McKinley worked for a time as a secretary and bookkeeper for the Tonsgard family and also took minutes for the Alaska Native Sisterhood. For many years, she worked as a proofreader for the Juneau Empire and later for the State of Alaska’s Division of Marine Transportation during the early period when the state’s first ferries were being constructed. She often remarked on the large checks written to the shipbuilding contractors during that era.

She was active in several civic and fraternal organizations, including the Order of the Eastern Star, the Rebekahs, and the Pioneers of Alaska. She served as President of the Juneau Women's Igloo in 1950.

McKinley enjoyed playing bingo and, well into her nineties, continued her tradition of making annual trips to Reno, Nevada, with her daughters and granddaughters.

Irene D. Lundstrom McKinley died in April 2002 at the Juneau Pioneers’ Home.

Sources

Gastineau Channel Memories, Vol. 3, p. 199, story by Janice Nordenson; Juneau-Douglas High School Yearbook, 1928

Irene D Lundstrom McKinley Irene McKinley Irene Lundstrom Irene D McKinley Irene Lundstrom McKinley Irene D Lundstrom Irene McKinley Alaska

Tags: Irene D. Lundstrom McKinley, Irene McKinley, Irene Lundstrom, Alfred Lundstrom, Maija Milumaki Lundstrom, Jerry McKinley, Janice Nordenson, Juneau Women's Igloo No. 6, Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Empire employees, Douglas Alaska residents, Excursion Inlet workers

Primary Name: Olsen, Anita Grace Garnick Kodzoff

Filed as: olsen_anita_grace_garnick_kodzoff

Also known as: Anita Grace Garnick; Anita Garnick-Kodzoff; Anita Kodzoff; Anita Olsen

Occupation / Association: President, Juneau Women’s Igloo (1949, 1950); Alaska Territorial House of Representatives member; Alaska Territorial Senator; bailiff and law librarian, Superior Court; grocer

Born: March 18, 1904, Fort Collins, Colorado

Died: March 30, 1987, Seattle, Washington

Parents: Frank Louis Garnick; Clara Ella Herner Garnick

Spouse: George Val Dimer Kodzoff; Harland D. Olsen

Children:

Associated places: Fort Collins, Colorado; Juneau, Alaska; Mendenhall Valley, Alaska; Seattle, Washington

Keywords: Anita Grace Garnick Kodzoff Olsen, Anita Garnick Kodzoff Olsen, Alaska Territorial Senate first woman, Juneau Women’s Igloo President 1949, Alaska Territorial House member 1947, Garnick's Grocery Juneau, Kodzoff Acres Trailer Park

Biography

Anita Grace Garnick Kodzoff Olsen served as President of the Juneau Women’s Igloo in 1949 and 1950.

She was born on March 18, 1904, in Fort Collins, Colorado, to Frank Louis Garnick and Clara Ella Herner Garnick. Anita grew up in Juneau and graduated from Juneau High School in 1922. She later attended the Alaska Territorial Normal School.

Her father purchased the Consumer’s Market on Seward Street in 1923 and renamed it Garnick’s Grocery. Anita worked in the store, and after her mother’s death in 1938, she took over management of the market. She operated the business until closing the grocery store in 1955.

Anita served as Secretary–Treasurer for the American Federation of Musicians, Local 672, AFL-CIO.

She entered public service and became the second woman elected to the Alaska Territorial House of Representatives, serving from 1947 to 1949. In 1949, she was elected to the Alaska Territorial Senate, serving until 1953. She was the first woman to serve in the Alaska Territorial Senate, although another woman had previously been elected but did not take office.

Anita later worked as a bailiff and law librarian for the Superior Court in Juneau from 1959 to 1969.

She married George Val Dimer Kodzoff on December 3. Together, they established Kodzoff Acres Trailer Park in the Mendenhall Valley. George died in March 1979. Anita later married Harland D. Olsen on September 25, 1982.

She was active in numerous organizations, including the Order of Eastern Star, American Legion Auxiliary, Women of the Moose, the Emblem Club, and the Alaska Native Sisterhood.

Anita received the American Legion Citizenship Award in 1963.

She died in Seattle, Washington, on March 30, 1987.

Sources

1910 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau; 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau; Who's Who in the West, 19th Edition, p. 453; Daily Sitka Sentinel, April 3, 1987

Tags: Anita Grace Garnick Kodzoff Olsen, Anita Garnick, Anita Kodzoff, Juneau Women’s Igloo President, Alaska Territorial Senate, Alaska Territorial House, Garnick's Grocery Juneau, Kodzoff Acres Trailer Park

Anita Grace Garnick Kodzoff Olsen Anita Garnick Kodzoff Anita Olsen Anita Kodzoff A G Kodzoff Olsen Garnick Anita

Juneau Igloos No. 6 Presidents Report was submitted to the Grand Igloo by Juneau Men's President Brad Austin and Juneau Women's President Dorene Lorenz at the 2023 Grand Convention in Seward. Grand Igloo Secretary Dawn Campbell accepts the report in the spirit it was given.