Edward Webster arrived in Juneau in 1881 and staked placer claims in the Silver Bow Basin with his father, William I. Webster (Stone 1982).

Over the next ten years, the Websters located and developed the Humboldt Mine on Gold Creek. During this period, they established the first stamp mill in the Juneau Gold Belt (Alaska Monthly 1907). Webster also worked as a pile driver contractor, participating in the construction of wharves along the Juneau waterfront (Alaska Monthly 1907).

Frank Bach arrived in Juneau in 1883. He later moved across the Gastineau Channel to Douglas and opened a merchandise business (Alaska Monthly 1907; DeArmond 1967).

In 1893, business partners Edward Webster and Frank Bach constructed a two-telephone system across the channel to improve communication between their residences. The system proved successful, and the Treadwell Gold Mining Company soon connected to the line.

As other residents requested telephone service, Webster and Bach formed the Juneau and Douglas Telephone Company. By the late 1890s, the partnership dissolved and Webster assumed full ownership of the company.

Edward Webster married Anna Faulkner-Scott-Knutson Webster on August 10, 1910, in Juneau. She brought three daughters from previous marriages into the household: twins Mabel Grace Scott and Minerva Beatrice Scott, and Carol “Carrie” Swanhilde Knutson.

The Edward Webster House, located at 135-139 West Second Street, sits on the east ridge of Telephone Hill overlooking downtown Juneau. Photographs of Juneau from the 1880s confirm that the Webster House was among the earliest homes constructed in the area. Robert E. Hurley, the grandson of Edward and Anna Webster, owned the home when the 1984 Telephone Hill Historic Site and Structures Survey was conducted.

The Webster family owned and operated the Juneau and Douglas Telephone Company from 1893 until 1968, providing the first commercial telephone service in Alaska. The telephone company operated from the Webster home from 1915 to 1958 (DeArmond 1967; Hurley & Carrigan 1983).

Edward Webster began construction of his house in 1882, and numerous additions were made during the following seventy years (Hurley & Carrigan 1983). District Recorder records and the 1894 plat map of the Juneau Townsite show Edward Webster and Frank Bach owning Lots 7 and 8 in Block 1.

After Edward Webster’s death in 1918, his wife Anna assumed management of the company and continued operating it until her death in 1957.

Sources
Stone 1982
Alaska Monthly 1907
DeArmond 1967
Hurley & Carrigan 1983

Scott, Minerva “Minnie” Beatrice

Born: April 1, 1893, Grangeville, Idaho

Parents: Newton Scott and Anna Faulkner Scott (later Knutson, later Webster)

Twin Sister: Mabel Grace Scott

Siblings: Lucy Scott, Alice Scott, Ruth Scott; half-siblings Clarence Knutson and Carol “Carrie” Swanhilde Knutson

Associated Places: Grangeville, Idaho; Salmon River, Idaho; Juneau, Alaska

Biography

Minerva “Minnie” Beatrice Scott was born April 1, 1893, in Grangeville, Idaho, to Newton Scott and Anna Faulkner Scott. She was born alongside her twin sister, Mabel Grace Scott.

Minnie’s father, Newton Scott, died on November 5, 1897, when he was killed by a falling tree while riding a horse. Several of Minnie’s sisters—Lucy, Alice, and Ruth—also died while the family was still living in Idaho.

Minnie’s mother later married Swan Knutson on January 25, 1899, in the Salmon River region of Idaho. Swan Knutson died on August 1, 1901. After his death, two children were born to the family: Clarence Knutson and Carol “Carrie” Swanhilde Knutson, who was born April 5, 1902.

In 1904, Anna moved to Juneau, Alaska, with her daughters, Mabel Scott, Minerva “Minnie” Scott, and Carol “Carrie” Swanhilde Knutson. The family became part of the growing community of Southeast Alaska during the territorial mining era.

Sources

Family records and historical documentation

Primary Name: Knutson, Clarence
Filed as: knutson_clarence
Also known as: Clarence Knutson
Occupation / Association:
Born: April 5, 1902, Idaho
Died:
Parents: Swan Knutson; Anna Faulkner-Scott-Knutson-Webster
Spouse:
Children:
Associated places: Idaho; Juneau, Alaska
Keywords: Clarence Knutson, Knutson Clarence, Swan Knutson family, Anna Faulkner Scott Knutson Webster family

Biography

Clarence Knutson and his twin sister Carol Swanhilde were born on April 5, 1902, in Idaho to Anna Faulkner-Scott-Knutson-Webster and Swan Knutson.

Their father, Swan Knutson, died on August 1, 1901, several months before the twins were born.

Sources

Family records; related biographical entries for the Knutson and Webster families

Clarence Knutson Knutson Clarence C. Knutson

Anna Faulkner Scott Knutson Webster was a Charter Member of Juneau Igloo No. 6.

She was born on January 29, 1867, at Maitland, Hants County, Nova Scotia. She was the daughter of Captain Thomas Faulkner and Elizabeth McPherson Faulkner. She was descended from a long line of seafaring men. Anna immigrated to the United States in 1888 and was naturalized in 1890.

She married her first husband, Newton Scott, on May 21, 1890, in Idaho. They had five daughters: Lucy, born on May 23, 1890, in Idaho; twins Mabel Grace Scott and Minerva Beatrice Scott, born on April 1, 1893, in Grangeville, Idaho; Ruth, born in September 1894; and Alice, born on June 13, 1895.

The family experienced several tragedies. Their daughter Ruth died on March 15, 1896. Newton Scott was killed by a falling tree while riding a horse on November 5, 1897. Lucy died on November 14, 1897, and Alice died on November 22, 1897.

Her second husband was Swan Knutson. They were married in Salmon River, Idaho, on January 25, 1899. She was widowed when Swan died on August 1, 1901. Their twin children, Clarence Knutson and Carol Swanhilde Knutson, were born in Idaho on April 5, 1902, after his death.

Anna and her three daughters, Mabel, Minnie, and Carrie, moved to Juneau in 1904, and she began her career as head of the Douglas telephone exchange in 1905.

Anna married Edward Webster, who was the President of the Juneau-Douglas Telephone Company, on August 10, 1910, in Juneau. The family moved to Juneau, and her home stood high on the hill, built before the town itself was fully laid out and planned.

The house is registered as the Edward Webster House on Telephone Hill. Robert E. Hurley, the grandson of Edward and Anna Webster, owned the home when the 1984 Telephone Hill Historic Site and Structures Survey was conducted.

Anna died on August 13, 1957, in Juneau and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery on August 16, 1957.

Sources:
Biographies of Alaska Yukon Pioneers 1850–1950, Vol. 3, pp. 318–320, Ed Ferrell
Idaho Marriage Licenses
1910 U.S. Federal Census, Douglas
1930/1940 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau
Douglas Island Weekly News, August 17, 1910
Alaska Death Certificate
Evergreen Cemetery Burial Record 

Telephone Hill is one of the oldest, continuously occupied areas in Juneau, and was part of the original Juneau Townsite Survey. The Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Igloo voted unanimously to formally request that the City and Borough of Juneau preserve this historic neighborhood.

In 1881, the U.S. Navy established a government reservation on the northern portion of the hill and constructed a military post. The hill's geographic prominence provided the Navy with a strategic vantage point from which they could maintain law and order in the raw mining town.

After the Navy abandoned the post, two government court houses were erected on the reservation beginning in 1893, and completed by the ·General Land Office in 1894. The first court house, erected in 1893, burned in 1898. The second court house was constructed in 1904, and remained on that site until razed for the construction of the present State Office Building.

Turn-of-the-century photographs of the townsite show residences on the hill, a few of which still exist today. With its sweeping view of Gastineau Channel and Douglas Island, the hill has been an attraction throughout the area’s history of habitation.

The neighborhood lies south of Third Street and is bordered by Main Street and Willoughby Avenue. The upper portion, north of Third Street, was once the location of the Government Court House until the late 1960’s. Today the State Office Building occupies the site.

The name Telephone Hill became firmly attached to the area when Edward Webster, owner of the Juneau and Douglas Telephone Company, located his business on the summit of the hill. The business remained in the Webster house until the 1957, when POA Charter Member Anna Webster, who was running the company after his husband's death, passed away.

Several long-time Juneau businesses were situated in the study area. Attorneys Edward Bayless and Lewis Shackleford had a law library in the Edward Bayless house on Telephone Hill. The 1914 Sanborn map notes that the offices of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company and Wells Fargo Express were located in a building south of First and Main Streets.

The Winter and Pond Photography Studio, the U.S. Cable Office, and the Juneau & Douglas Telephone Company were located in the Horseshoe Building at the corner of First and Main. Empire Printing was located between First and Second on Main Street. The Alaska Road Commission had a barn and stables at the base of the hill.

The Telephone Hill Historic District is threatened with destruction as most of the development plans proposed to the City and Borough of Juneau in 2023 called for bulldozing all the historic structures.  See 3 January, 2024 Anchorage Press Article for details.

Structures in the Telephone Hill Historic District:

Districts are generally groupings of buildings or structures whose significance can be other than historical visual, architectural and environmental. Groups of buildings can create a specific environment physically and spatially by representing the standards and tastes of a community or neighborhood during a period of history. Unrelated structures often collectively display a progression of styles and functions or cohesive townscapes.

The structures at the Telephone Hill summit, constructed between 1882 and 1939, are collectively significant and create a district. Two factors contribute to the district's significance: The site's association with the early development of Juneau; and the buildings' architectural details reflecting the changing construction designs during the past century. Using National Register criteria, the Telephone Hill structures were determined in the Telephone Hill Historic Site and Structures Survey, 1984, to meet the qualifications of the National Register of Historic Places for a Historic District. 

CBJ Telephone Hill Redevelopment Documents

Juneau Telephone Hill Market Analysis, Feasibility Analysis and Development Strategy