Primary Name: Uberti, Liza

Filed as: Uberti, Liza

Also known as: Liza Uberti

Occupation / Association: Early Douglas, Alaska resident

Associated places: Locana, Città Metropolitana di Torino, Piemonte, Italy; Douglas, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska

Keywords: Liza Uberti, Uberti family Douglas Alaska, Emil Uberti Douglas businessman, Hunter Hotel Douglas Alaska, Italian immigrants Alaska, Douglas Eagles Cemetery

Biography

Liza Uberti was born on February 6, 1879, in Locana, Città Metropolitana di Torino, Piemonte, Italy.

She later immigrated to the United States and became a resident of Douglas, Alaska. Liza was the first wife of Emil Uberti, a well-known Douglas businessman. The couple had three children.

Emil Uberti operated a pool room on Front Street and also served as manager of the Hunter Hotel in Douglas.

Liza Uberti died on December 28, 1918, at the age of thirty-nine. She was buried in the Douglas Eagles Cemetery in Douglas, Alaska.

Sources

Survey and Inventory of Douglas Historic Cemeteries

Find-A-Grave

Primary Name: Reynolds, Percy

Filed as: Reynolds, Percy

Also known as: Percy Reynolds

Occupation / Association: Chef; restaurant and liquor store proprietor

Associated places: Ketchikan, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; Telephone Hill, Juneau, Alaska

Keywords: Percy Reynolds, Percy Reynolds House Juneau, Telephone Hill historic homes, Front Street Juneau restaurants, early Juneau business owners

Biography

Percy Reynolds was a chef and early Juneau businessman who came to the city from Ketchikan, Alaska. After arriving in Juneau, he opened a liquor store and restaurant on Front Street, serving the growing community in the capital city during the early twentieth century.

Reynolds also built the Percy Reynolds House at 116 West First Street on Telephone Hill. The residence faced south, overlooking Gastineau Channel and Douglas Island, and became one of the homes associated with the early residential development of Telephone Hill.

Sources

Telephone Hill Historic Site and Structures Survey, 1984

Primary Name: McCaul, Thomas J.

Filed as: McCaul, Thomas J.

Also known as: Thomas J. McCaul

Occupation / Association: Cigar store owner; property owner

Associated places: Juneau, Alaska; Telephone Hill, Juneau, Alaska

Property / Address: Edward Bayless House, Telephone Hill, Juneau, Alaska

Keywords: Thomas J McCaul, Front Street cigar store Juneau, Edward Bayless House, Telephone Hill Juneau property owners

Biography

Thomas J. McCaul owned a cigar store on Front Street in Juneau, Alaska.

From 1921 to 1933, McCaul owned the Edward Bayless House located on Telephone Hill in Juneau.

Sources

Telephone Hill Historic Site and Structures Survey; local Juneau historical records

The Edward Bayless House is located at 211 Dixon Street in the Telephone Hill Historic Neighborhood.

Ownership documentation of Lots 1 and 2 reveals that George Pilz and his wife sold the property to Juneau co-founder Richard T. Harris in March 1881.

Pilz grubstaked Joe Juneau and Richard Harris during their search for southeast Alaska gold. When Juneau's two founders discovered gold and reported to Pilz, he joined the others in staking local claims.

Although 1901 tax records show "lots and a building" and site improvements valued at $1,000, the Edward Bayless House located at on Lot 2 at 211 Dixon Street is reportedly visible in an 1885 photograph.

In a October 13, 1904 letter Richard wrote his brother that their father, "wants to sell the back lot so he can put up a new house and have money in case anything should happen to him." The boys own the place and he asks his brother to send permission for their father to sell the land. The permission was given but Harris did not sell the property as it will increase in value because the town is growing fast as was revealed in a November 20, 1904 letter.

The Harris family lived in a house on an adjacent lot at 219 Second Street, although Kitty Harris died in 1893 and Richard Harris died in 1907.  William John Harris, Junior inherited the property on his father's death.

The original residence was replaced around 1910; the second structure stood until the late 1950s. Harris married Kitty, a Tlingit from Hoonah, in the 1880s. They raised four children in the Telephone Hill home. William Harris, the oldest surviving child, inherited the house after his father's death in 1907 (Walle, 1981). William was nationally published political cartoonist who was involved in early Alaska Native Rights efforts.

Harris maintained property ownership until 1912, when Claire Bayless and Edward Bayless purchased Lot 1 and built the Edward Bayless House.  In 1913, tax records indicate a building was situated on the Bayless lot, and a 1916 entry lists a law library on the premises valued at $175.

Bayless, a registered Republican, engaged in a law partnership with Louis P. Shackleford. The Baylesses retained property ownership until 1921, selling to Thomas J. McCaul, owner of a cigar store on Front Street. McCaul continued ownership until 1933.

In 1941, Senna Paul Powers bought Lots 1 and 2 and the house.

The Bayless House, a rectangular, 30'x44.5', 1½-story Craftsman­ Shingle structure, has retained its architectural integrity. The post-and-beam frame is covered with cedar shakes and rests on a poured concrete foundation. The gabled roof is composition shingle-covered, and a chimney sits on the ridgeline. Extended eaves with fascia boards are visible.

The west facade features two gabled dormers. The original, double-hung sash windows with upper multi-lites are symmetrically arranged on all facades. Some original, wood storm windows are evident.

A small entry vestibule, oriented west, is centrally located on the main facade. Vintage doors appear here and at the basement entrance on the north facade. Small, multi-lite windows are located on the front entry, and smaller units appear on the basement level. The main floor is divided into two apartments; the upper floor contains one unit. 

Telephone Hill Historic Site and Structures Survey, 1984, found that  this well-built, unpretentious residence is important architecturally. A fine example of the Craftsman-Shingle style popular on the West Coast during the early 20th century, it has retained its architectural integrity. This distinctive design is evident in the building's original craftsman-like use of local and natural materials.

The most striking characteristic of this natural style is the dark-stained shake shingles covering the entire residence. The prolific use of shingles makes decorative trimming unnecessary. Other stylistic features include a moderately pitched, rectangular roof with gabled dormers. The eave overhangs were kept short for maximum display of the shingled walls. The original double-hung sash windows are grouped in twos and threes.

The house has undergone minimal structural alterations.  It was found to be a contributing member of the Telephone Hill Historic Neighborhood.

The William Bosch House at 214 Dixon Street sits on the west slope of Telephone Hill. It was constructed between 1913-14 by William Bosch.

The 1894 plat map of the Juneau Townsite shows Charles W. Garside owning Lots 3 and 4 at the turn of the century. Charles and his brother, George Garside, came to Juneau in 1884.

They were mining engineers and early surveyors of the Juneau Townsite. George Garside was one of the original developers of the Perseverance, Atla and Jumbo lodes in the Silver Bow Basin (Stone 1980; DeArmond 1967).

City tax records show that Charles Garside sold the two lots to William Bosch in 1912. Bosch owned the Old Stand Saloon on Front Street, located next to the 20th Century Market in 1983. The estate of William Bosch sold Lots 3 and 4 to Joseph Stocker in the 1950s.

Ownership was transferred to the Nordales in 1967, and to Roy and Verna Carrigan in 1969. (Carrigan 1983; City of Juneau 1965-1983).

Verna Carrigan is the granddaughter of of Edward and Anna Webster, the founders of Juneau-Douglas Telephone Company. She vice-president and chief operator during the 1960s (DeArmond 1967).

This l½-story, rectangular, 28'x34' dwelling is representative of the Decorated Pioneer Farmhouse style. Its identifying characteristics include a steeply pitched gable roof, boxed cornices and detailed ornamentation consisting of scalloped/fish scale siding on the gable ends. The rest of the house is clad with cedar shingles.

A shed dormer is situated on both gable slopes, and the original brick chimney adorns the ridgeline. The windows are double-hung sash, multi-lite, fixed-sash, large picture and casement. A few windows exhibit a diagonal , leaded-glass pattern.

The extended front entry was originally an open porch. It was enclosed in the 1930s with numerous multi-lite windows (Carrigan 1983). The Carrigans reconstructed the extension in the 1970s. Fixed-sash windows replaced the multi-lites. The original single leaf, three-paneled door to the 5'x12' front entry and the inner door to the house were retained. The inner door has beveled glass with fir trim and beveled-glass side panels.

Pre-1984 structural alterations include a shed-roof dormer on the south facade with clapboard siding and two picture windows. A decorative bay window on the south facade's first floor was replaced with a picture window.

Several other fixed-sash windows were installed on the front and rear facades, and a wood deck and concrete walkway were placed along the north and east facades. A small, enclosed rear entry stoop was reconstructed by the Carrigans. The above-grade concrete block basement was completed in the 1970s.

The interior consists of a living room, dining room, kitchen, small sewing room, vestibule and bath. The kitchen and bath, with acoustic-tile ceilings, underwent extensive remodeling pre-1984.

Original features include an ornate sideboard or "pass-through" with leaded-glass windows located between the living and dining rooms. A partial wall divider between the living and dining rooms displays book shelves and leaded glass. An original stairwell leads to a second floor landing.

The second floor has a remodeled bath, and its two bedrooms were enlarged when the south facade dormer was constructed. Adjacent to the north facade sits a wood-framed, ll' x20', one-bay garage with a vertical sliding door. The structure has a medium-pitched gable roof, extended eaves and verges with exposed rafter ends and cedar shingle siding. 

Telephone Hill Historic Site and Structures Survey, 1984 found this well-maintained residence to be is one of the most architecturally significant structures in the study area and a contributing member of the Telephone Hill Historic Neighborhood.

A fine example of the Decorated Pioneer Farmhouse style, this building was constructed with a greater concern for detail and embellishments than was the basic Pioneer house. The structure's steeply pitched gable roof, boxed cornices and meticulous trim reflect this distinctive design. Ornamentation consists of scalloped/fish scale siding on gable ends, leaded-glass windows and a beveled-glass front door with beveled-glass side panels. Many interior decorative features were retained, reflecting fine carpentry work and preserving the ambience of the era in which it was constructed.

Although the house has undergone several ,..structural alterations, they are not severe enough to compromise the building's architectural integrity. Unfortunately, a fair number of the original double-hung sash and multi-lite windows were replaced with single-sash types. A shed dormer was added on the south facade; there had always been a dormer on the north facade. The enclosed front entry, recently reconstructed, was originally an open porch. The entry's original outer door, however, was retained, as was the beveled-glass door to the main house.

Primary Name: Prior, Lila Elizabeth Ann

Filed as: Prior, Lila Elizabeth Ann

Also known as: Lila Olds; Lila Palmer

Occupation / Association: Hotel proprietor; Charter member, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Igloo No. 6

Associated places: Grand Valley, Colorado; Juneau, Alaska

Keywords: Lila Elizabeth Ann Prior, Lila Olds Juneau Alaska, Lila Palmer Juneau Alaska, Occidental Hotel Front Street Juneau, Juneau Igloo No 6 charter member, early Juneau hotel owners

Biography

Lila Elizabeth Ann Prior was a charter member of the Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Igloo No. 6.

She was born on October 27, 1872, in Grand Valley, Colorado, the daughter of John and Eliza Prior.

She married John Olds in Juneau on December 7, 1886. Their marriage produced five children: John, Brilliant, Klonda, Harry, and Lydia. John Olds died in Washington in August 1910.

Lila became the proprietor of the Occidental Hotel located on Front Street in Juneau, an establishment that served travelers and residents during the city’s early development.

On September 15, 1917, she married Dr. A. J. Palmer.

Lila Elizabeth Ann Prior Olds Palmer died in Juneau, Alaska, on March 28, 1939.

Sources

Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers 1850–1950, Volume 5, p. 215

Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers 1850–1950, Volume 2, p. 243

Alaska Daily Empire, September 17, 1917

Primary Name: Kearney, Anna Catherine

Filed as: kearney_anna_catherine

Also known as: Anna Catherine Penglase; Anna Kearney

Occupation / Association: Charter Member, Juneau Igloo No. 6; Hotel manager

Born: June 6, 1896, Douglas, Alaska

Died: November 9, 1987, Everett, Washington

Parents: John J. Penglase; Catherine Mary Cashen Penglase

Spouse: John “Jack” Edmond Kearney (m. June 28, 1916, Douglas, Alaska)

Children: John Edmond Kearney (b. October 28, 1917); Claudia Kearney (b. January 24, 1919); Kenneth Keith Kearney (b. December 30, 1926)

Associated places: Douglas, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; Everett, Washington

Keywords: Anna Catherine Kearney, Anna Catherine Penglase, Anna Kearney, Penglase family, John Jack Edmond Kearney, Imperial Hotel Juneau, Juneau Igloo No. 6, Douglas Alaska pioneers

Biography

Anna Catherine Penglase Kearney was a charter member of Juneau Igloo No. 6.

She was born in Douglas, Alaska, on June 6, 1896, to John J. Penglase and Catherine Mary Cashen Penglase.

On June 28, 1916, she married John “Jack” Edmond Kearney in Douglas, Alaska. The couple had three children: John Edmond, born October 28, 1917; Claudia, born January 24, 1919; and Kenneth Keith, born December 30, 1926.

Jack Kearney worked for Alaska Steamship Company while Anna managed the Imperial Hotel on Front Street in Juneau.

The family later moved to Everett, Washington, in 1966. Anna Catherine Kearney died in Everett on November 9, 1987.

Sources

1900 U.S. Federal Census, Douglas; 1920 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau; Alaska Daily Empire, June 28, 1916; Alaska Daily Empire, October 29, 1917; Alaska Daily Empire, January 25, 1919; Pioneers of Alaska Membership Application

Anna Catherine Kearney Anna Penglase Anna Catherine Penglase Anna Kearney Kearney Anna A C Kearney Penglase Anna

Tags: Anna Catherine Kearney, Anna Catherine Penglase, Anna Kearney, Penglase family, Kearney family, Imperial Hotel Juneau, Juneau Igloo No. 6, charter member, Douglas Alaska pioneers

The Valentine Building, built in two phases in 1904 and completed in 1913, is significant for its Frontier Alaskan architectural character, its recognized importance as Juneau's most prestigious office building
during the first half of this century, its association with Emery Valentine and other prominent pioneer Alaskans and significant historic events.

Emery Valentine arrived in Alaska in 1886, possessed of a strong degree of entrepreneurial ambition. At the age of 10, he had already crossed the midwest plains with his pioneering parents.

He followed the Rocky Mountain gold fields as prospector and miner, and lost a leg lost in an early Colorado Territory mining accident.

Still following the gold trails, Valentine arrived in the raw gold camp of Juneau only six years after that significant 1880 Gold Creek discovery by Joe Juneau and Richard T. Harris. He learned goldsmithing—which led him into the gold jewelry trade.

John Olds, one of the first sourdough prospectors following Juneau and Harris, recalled that,"We landed our canoe on November, 1880, at the foot of where Seward Street new is. . ."  This site, just at the-tide mark, was registered, in 1881 as a mining claim, the Boston Lode.

In 1896, yhe year after Valentine's Alaskan arrival, Ernest Ingersoll's best-selling book, Gold Fields of the Klondyke, proclaimed "Juneau, a town of 3,000 is rightly called the metropolis of Alaska Territory. Whether she will retain this prestige remains to be seen. If so, one of two things must occur.  She must plane down
the side of her mountains or erect skyscraping buildings with elevators to accommodate her populace, for nearly every foot of available ground is already occupied. . ."

Emery Valentine was foremost among the developers who found a better way.

When he arrived in Juneau, Front Street was the high tide beach of Gastineau Channel. Emery Valentine, accordingly, was among those who set progress by filling in ground along this derelict beachline. This enabled Valentine to build the first segment of his first building.

"Walking up the stairs to the second floor of the Valentine Building . . . is a trip back into what was the most prestigious business building of Juneau in the early 1900's, built by one of Juneau's colorful pioneer characters ..."  according to Toni Croft & Phyllis Bradner's Touring Juneau; Back Streets, Bawdy-houses, Bars & Bodacious Biographies.

In 1913, the Valentine Building block was advantageously enlarged to in­clude the prime corner lot at Seward and Front Streets. The 1904 structure not only doubled in size, but its impact was vastly enhanced by the most prominent corner location of two streets—rather than only one.

Emery Valentine had come to Alaska in 1886 to satisfy a lifelong desire to develop North America's "Last Frontier." Valentine founded Juneau's finest jewelry store which occupied the city's test retail site at the corner of Seward and Front with exposure on both streets.

Valentine became highly active in Alaskan politics and civic activities. He was Chairman of a city council-type organization called the Juneau Board of Safety, and underwriter and private financier for the first Juneau Fire Department. Valentine served six successful terms as Mayor after Juneau was incorporated in 1900.

Emery Valentine proved his deep commitment to development of Southeastern Alaska. As one of the largest property owners in southeastern Alaska, he helped found the Alaska Steamship Line, the foremost freight and passenger ocean line with service to Seattle. He founded the Peoples Wharf Company Docks at Skagway and Juneau, which so affected shipping charges in these ports, that coal and lumber prices dropped to almost half of the exorbitant rates paid before 1900.

Valentine wanted to erect "a quality structure that would give Juneau a truer air of urbanity."

The Valentine Building was the first in Alaska where office space was intentionally separated from retail space. The building's reputation for quality offices, gained over the years, and its ideal central downtown location, as well as architectural quality, provided elite tenancy for the first half of the century.

Architecturally, the Valentine building is an outstanding example of frontier Commercial architecture that recalls a pioneer Alaskan tradition of quality craftswork; the design responding and interpreting the contemporary archi­tectural developments of the late 19th century West Coast.

Despite intentions to the contrary, the building is a vernacular one; yet impressive in its execution of style. The isolation of Juneau at that time, plus the popularity of pattern books as architectural design aids, provided the fine ornamentation of the building which was available from Seattle millworks).

Stylistically, Valentine Building provides documentation of an historic design evolution.

It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

National Register of Historic Places Nomination form

Primary Name: Radonich, Edna Marion Sprague Haley

Filed as: Radonich, Edna Marion Sprague Haley

Also known as: Edna Marion Sprague; Edna Haley; Edna Radonich

Occupation / Association: Teacher; matron, federal jail on Courthouse Hill; Charter member and first president, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Igloo Women’s Auxiliary No. 6

Associated places: Lyle, Minnesota; Perham, Minnesota; Juneau, Alaska; Dawson City, Yukon Territory; Douglas, Alaska

Keywords: Edna Marion Sprague Haley Radonich, Juneau Igloo Womens Auxiliary first president, Alaska Grill Juneau history, Carnation Tom Radonich, Pine Creek mining claims, Chilkoot Trail families, Courthouse Hill federal jail matron

Biography

Edna Marion Sprague Haley Radonich was a charter member of the Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Igloo Women’s Auxiliary No. 6. She was elected the organization’s first president and also served additional terms in 1921, 1922, 1925, and 1927.

Edna Sprague was born in Lyle, Minnesota, in 1875 to Will and Mary Sprague. She was raised on a farm near Perham, Minnesota. In 1895, she moved to Juneau, Alaska, to teach school and to join her aunt and uncle, Matt and Alice Loughlin.

She married Ed Haley in Juneau on July 7, 1896. During the 1899 mining season, Edna accompanied her husband to his Pine Creek mining claims. Later that year, she returned to Juneau pregnant with their daughter, Dorothy. Travel to and from the mining camps was by steamer and on foot over the Chilkoot Trail. Edna and Ed Haley had two children, Dorothy and Donald.

After the birth of her children, Edna became a homemaker primarily, though in later years she worked as a matron at the federal jail on Courthouse Hill in Juneau.

Her second husband was Thomas G. “Carnation Tom” Radonich. Born September 19, 1869, in Dalmatia, Croatia, he came to the United States as a young man and arrived in Juneau around 1891. He was an early Klondike gold rush stampeder and operated a restaurant in Dawson City during the height of the gold rush. There, he became known as “Carnation Tom” because he arranged for regular shipments of fresh carnations and was rarely seen without one in his lapel.

After returning to Juneau in the early 1900s, Radonich operated several businesses along the Gastineau Channel, including restaurants, a meat market, and gaming houses in both Juneau and Douglas. The best known of these enterprises was the Alaska Grill, located on Front Street in the C.W. Young Building, which for many years was the largest restaurant in Alaska.

Edna maintained a large rooftop garden on the C.W. Young Building, adjacent to her home above the Alaska Grill. In later life she cultivated an extensive terraced garden on the hillside above her final home on Basin Road in Juneau.

Edna Marion Sprague Haley Radonich died on May 17, 1951. She is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in the Pioneers of Alaska Section.

Primary Name: Ashby, Thomas Henly

Filed as: ashby_thomas_henly

Also known as: Thomas H. Ashby

Occupation / Association: Prospector; Miner; Merchant; Charter Member, Juneau Men’s Igloo; Topkuk Ditch Company partner

Born: 1865, Missouri

Died: 1951, Tacoma, Washington

Parents:

Spouse: Mary Andreafsky

Children: Charles Ashby; Inez Ashby

Associated places: Juneau, Alaska; Treadwell, Alaska; Glacier Bay, Alaska; Stewart River, Yukon; Forty Mile, Alaska; Dawson, Yukon Territory; Nome, Alaska; Tacoma, Washington

Property / Address: Ashby and Leek Building (later Missouri Saloon / Louvre Theater), Front Street, Juneau, Alaska

Keywords: Thomas Henly Ashby, Thomas H Ashby, Ashby brothers, Missouri Saloon Juneau, Louvre Theater Juneau, Topkuk Ditch Company, Dawson stampede 1897, early Juneau prospectors

Biography

Thomas Henly Ashby was a charter member of the Juneau Men’s Igloo of the Pioneers of Alaska.

Ashby was born in Missouri in 1865. In 1884, he and his brother Oscar left their pig farm in Missouri at the urging of Richard T. Harris. They arrived in Juneau on May 11 and worked in various enterprises, including employment at the Treadwell Mine.

One of Thomas’s first prospecting trips was with Joe Juneau to Glacier Bay. In 1886, he and his brother traveled north, built a pole boat, and mined in the Stewart River area. They returned to Juneau in October of that year.

In 1887, Thomas returned to the Forty Mile area to prospect. Back in Juneau in 1891, the Ashby brothers and William Leek built a two-story building on Front Street at the site of the present Imperial Bar. The establishment began as a saloon known as Ashby and Leek, and later the Missouri. It was later known as the Louvre Theater and Saloon.

Thomas was among the early stampeders to Dawson in 1897 during the Klondike Gold Rush, where he mined on Eldorado, Below Bonanza, and other creeks.

He met and married Mary Andreafsky at Holy Cross. In 1899, Mary joined her husband in Dawson and crossed the Chilkoot Pass, carrying their three-month-old baby, Charles, on her back while a friend carried their two-year-old, Inez.

The family later moved to Nome, where Thomas and his brother became partners in the well-known Topkuk Ditch Company. Mary died in 1913. Thomas continued prospecting afterward and staked claims in many locations north and south of Juneau.

He died in Tacoma, Washington, in 1951 from complications following surgery.

Sources

Gastineau Channel Memories 1880–1959, pp. 260–261.

Tags: Thomas Henly Ashby, Thomas H Ashby, Ashby brothers, Oscar Ashby, Juneau pioneers, Missouri Saloon Juneau, Louvre Theater Juneau, Topkuk Ditch Company, Klondike stampeders, Juneau Men’s Igloo charter member

Thomas Henly Ashby Thomas H Ashby T H Ashby Ashby Thomas Henly