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Girdwood
Originally called "Glacier City," Girdwood
was founded as a supply camp for placer gold miners with claims along the creeks
feeding Turnagain Arm. It was renamed for Colonel James Girdwood, a
Belfast-born, Scots-Irish entrepreneur and linen merchant who staked the first
four gold claims along Crow Creek in 1896.
The town was moved 2.5 miles (4 km) up the valley after the devastating Good
Friday Earthquake of 1964, when the land under the original townsite subsided
into Turnagain Arm, putting much of the town below high tide. The land has not
all since been reclaimed, as one can still see 'drowned' cabins in the marshy
areas where the city formerly extended. Significant earthquakes are a relatively
common occurrence for Girdwood and the Kenai peninsula. Evidence has been
discovered that indicates the area has seen six major quakes in the past 3300
years.
Girdwood was incorporated as a city in 1970 and became part of the Municipality
of Anchorage when the Greater Anchorage Area Borough unified with the city of
Anchorage in 1975. The town has served as a backdrop for at least two films: The
Chechahcos, a 1924 silent film about the Klondike Gold Rush, and Warren Miller's
1997 Snowriders II. Girdwood was the home of Alaska's former senior U.S. Senator
Ted Stevens, and Girdwood found itself in the media spotlight when the
construction projects on Stevens' home became the subject of a federal
investigation. Olympic gold and silver medal-winning skier Tommy Moe also called
Girdwood home during his High School years where he attended Glacier Creek
Academy.
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