• Alaska is having its 50th anniversary of statehood in 2009. Come and visit us to celebrate!
  • Europeans first discovered Alaska in 1741 when explorer Vitus Bering sighted it on a voyage from Siberia.
  • Russian whalers and fur traders on Kodiak Island established the first non-native settlement in Alaska in 1784.
  • On October 18, 1867 Alaska officially became the property of the United States. Many Americans called United States Secretary of State William H. Seward’s $7,200,000 purchase from Russia "Seward's Folly."
  • Alaska's Constitution was adopted in 1956 and became effective in 1959 making it the 49th state.