Saturday, July 14, 1923. Harding in Anchorage.

President Harding visited Anchorage, where he and Mrs. Harding painted their names on a section house.

Direct link to something else, apparently, going on in Anchorage on the same day.

The Ku Klux Klan holds its first "Konvention" in Washington state.

Once again, it's really hard to imagine this occurring today.

The French celebrated Bastille Day, even though there's next to nothing to actually celebrate about it, or the French Revolution in general.

Oh well, it's a party, there was music, and the girls were there.

November 23, 1920. Empires

The news on this Tuesday in 1920 was still reverberating with the stories of recent European violence.

This included, as seen above, the naïve hope that the United States was going to be Armenia's protector.

In Washington D.C., high ranking officers of the Department of the Navy were out.

USMC Gen. John A. Lejune, 11/23/1920

 Navy personnel and Josephus Daniels

Anchorage Alaska, which had been founded in 1915, was incorporated.

Anchorage was, and is, as the name indicates a port city.  And today its a large one, much like any other large port city, all of which have a certain universal character.  It was also, however, right from the onset a railhead, which made it all the more important.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Holy Family Catholic Cathedral, Anchorage Alaska

Churches of the West: Holy Family Catholic Cathedral, Anchorage Alaska:

Holy Family Catholic Cathedral, Anchorage Alaska

This is Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage Alaska, although as of 2013 a co-cathedral in Anchorage serves the archdiocese for many functions, this downtown location having been determined to be impractical for some of them.. The Cathedral was built in 1948 as a parish church, and became a cathedral in 1966 when the archdiocese was established.

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Old Anchorage City Hall, Anchorage Alaska

Courthouses of the West: Old Anchorage City Hall, Anchorage Alaska:

Once the largest building in Anchorage, albeit only very briefly, this city hall held all the municipal offices from 1936 until some date in the 1970s. 

A fairly substantial building, it provides additional evidence of how surprisingly busy Anchorage was during the 1930s.

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Federal Building, Anchorage Alaska

Courthouses of the West: Federal Building, Anchorage Alaska:

This is the Federal Building in Anchorage Alaska, which was built in 1941.  The Art Deco style building is very substantial, and the building is one of several in Anchorage which show the extent of development in the city in the 1930s and 1940s.  It was, and is, a very modern building for the port city, which might surprise those who wouldn't have expected this type of architecture and development for Anchorage in this, pre oil development, era.

The courtroom was, and is, a prominent feature of the building.