Anchorage Memorial Park

The Anchorage Memorial Park, also known as Anchorage Cemetery, is a 22-acre (89,000 m²) cemetery located in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. Covering nine city blocks, the cemetery separates the city's downtown and Fairview neighborhoods.

Anchorage Memorial Park
Details
Established	1915
Location	Anchorage, Alaska
Country	United States
Coordinates	61°12′54″N 149°52′34″W
Type	Public and private
Owned by	Municipality of Anchorage
Size	22.35 acres (9.04 ha)
No. of graves	>12,500
Website	Home page Burial list
Find a Grave	Anchorage Memorial Park
The Political Graveyard	Anchorage Memorial Park
Footnotes	GNIS Data

Anchorage Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Alaska Heritage Resources Survey
Location	Anchorage, Alaska
Coordinates	61°12′54″N 149°52′34″W
Area	22.35 acres (9.04 ha)
Built	1915
NRHP reference No.	93000320[1]
AHRS No.	ANC-766
Added to NRHP	April 26, 1993

The cemetery was established by President Woodrow Wilson in 1915 as part of the Anchorage townsite, one of a number of land reserves set aside for public facilities for the new town.^[2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993, recognizing its status as Anchorage's oldest cemetery.^[3]

From approximately 1954 to 1986, a public housing complex called Willow Park occupied the half-blocks of the cemetery site adjacent to Ninth Avenue and Fairbanks Street. The buildings were razed to allow for expansion of the cemetery. All that remains is the complex's maintenance building, taken over for the same purpose by the cemetery.

Notable burials

• Leopold David (1878–1924), first Mayor of Anchorage
• Anthony Joseph Dimond (1881–1953), U.S. Congressman
• Lorene Harrison (1905–2005), Artist and educator^[4]
• Walter Joseph Hickel (1919–2010), U.S. Cabinet Secretary and Alaska Governor. Buried standing up, facing East towards Washington, D.C.
• Ada Blackjack (1898–1983), Explorer^[5]
• Sydney Laurence (1865–1940), Artist
• Howard Wallace Pollock (1920–2011), U.S. Congressman
• Mary Louise Rasmuson (1911–2012), Fifth Director of the U.S. Army Women's Army Corps^{[citation needed]}
• William Alex Stolt (1900–2001), Anchorage Mayor

See also

• Angelus Memorial Park, a private cemetery near the Seward Highway in south Anchorage, of similar stature in the community to this cemetery
• List of cemeteries in Alaska
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Anchorage, Alaska

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. "Memorial Cemetery". Municipality of Anchorage. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
3. "NRHP nomination for Anchorage Cemetery". National Park Service. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
4. "Harrison, Bessie and Sullivan, Daily". Alaska History. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
5. Tetpon, John (July 18, 2018). "Ada Blackjack Johnson, an epic story of Arctic survival, alleged cannibalism, and the will to live". Anchorage Press.