American Sitka

As Alaska evolved from a department to a district to a territory and finally to a state, this hill also changed, eventually becoming Baranof Castle State Historic Site. After the 1867 Alaska Transfer Ceremony, the U.S. Army took command of Sitka and governed Alaska as a military district for 10 uneasy years, after which jurisdiction passed to the Department of the Treasury and then the U.S. Navy. The Organic Act of 1884 finally authorized a governor and promised Alaska a civil government. An extravagant house on the hill, completed in 1837 and often called Baranov's Castle, had housed the Russian governors and then served as the residence of Alaska's first American commanders. The castle burned in 1894, and five years later the Office of Agricultural Experiment Stations built its headquarters on the hill. By 1906, Juneau replaced Sitka as Alaska's seat of government as mining grew in importance in the territory. The vacant agricultural experiment station was demolished and the hill became a territorial park in 1955. On January 3, 1959, Alaska entered the Union as the 49th state, and an unofficial flag-raising ceremony took place atop the hill. With statehood, the territorial park became Baranof Castle State Historic Site.

Sitka, Alaska · United States