Sitka Pioneers’ Home – Sitka AK

Description

The Sitka Pioneers’ Home was built with financial assistance from the PWA, ca. 1935, and served as “a home for aged pioneers” (source note 1).  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 (source note 2) and today it “has a capacity to serve 75 men and women and provides care at three different levels: Level I (independent), Level II (basic assistance), Level III (24-hour care for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders and comprehensive services)” (source note 3).

“Alaska became a Territory in 1912 and in August of that year a bill was introduced by Sitka’s Representative, Arthur G. Shoup, to appropriate $10,000 and establish the Alaska Pioneer Home at Sitka. The Navy Department gave permission to use the old barracks for that purpose and the Home opened in September 1913.

Only indigent men were admitted to the Home in the early years. By the early 1930s, in addition to being something of a fire trap, the buildings were becoming dilapidated and expensive to maintain. Congress enacted a law granting the former Naval Reserve to the Territory of Alaska. It was at this time that the present concrete building was constructed.

The new building housed 170 men but there were no facilities for women. The 1949 Legislature provided funds for a women’s Home, and a former church, adjoining the Pioneer Home, was purchased for that purpose.”