Between the 1930s and the 1950s, the city experienced massive growth as air transportation and the m

Anchorage international cheap air ticket (officially called the Municipality of Anchorage) is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the 64th-largest city and northernmost major city in the United States. With 291,826 residents in 2010 (and 380,821 residents within its Metropolitan Statistical Area, which combines Anchorage with the neighboring Matanuska-Susitna Borough), it is Alaska's largest city and constitutes more than 40 percent of the state's international cheap air ticket total population; amongst the 50 states, international cheap air ticket only New York has a higher percentage international cheap air ticket of residents who live in the state's largest city.
Anchorage has been named All-America City four times, in 1956, 1965, 1984/1985 and 2002, by the National Civic League. It has also been named by Kiplinger as the most tax friendly city in the United States.
international cheap air ticket Russian presence in south central Alaska was well established in the 19th century. In 1867, U. S. Secretary international cheap air ticket of State William H. Seward brokered a deal to purchase Alaska from a debt-ridden Imperial Russia for $7.2 million (about two cents an acre). The deal was lampooned by political rivals as "Seward's folly", "Seward's icebox" and "Walrussia". By 1888, gold was discovered along Turnagain Arm.
In 1912, Alaska became a United States territory. Anchorage, unlike every other large town in Alaska south of the Brooks Range, was neither a fishing nor mining camp. The area within tens of miles of Anchorage is barren of significant economic metal minerals. While a number of Dena'ina settlements existed along Knik Arm for years, only two white men, Bud Whitney and Jack Brown, were reported to have lived in the Ship Creek valley in the 1910s prior to the large influx of settlers.
The city grew from its happenstance choice as the site, in 1914, of a railroad construction port for the Alaska Engineering Commission. Construction of the railroad, to be known as the Alaska Railroad, international cheap air ticket continued until its completion in 1923. The area near the mouth of Ship Creek, where the railroad headquarters was located, quickly became a tent city. A townsite was platted on higher ground to the south of the tent city, greatly noted in the years since for its order and rigidity compared with other Alaskan townsites. Anchorage was incorporated on November 23, 1920.
The city's economy in the 1920s and 1930s centered on the railroad. Col. Otto F. Ohlson, the Swedish-born general manager of the railroad for nearly two decades, became a symbol of residents' contempt for the firm control he maintained over the railroad's affairs, which by extension became control over economic and other aspects of life in Alaska.
Between international cheap air ticket the 1930s and the 1950s, the city experienced massive growth as air transportation and the military became increasingly important. Aviation operations international cheap air ticket in Anchorage commenced along the firebreak south of town (today's Delaney international cheap air ticket Park Strip), which was also used by residents as a golf course. An increase in air traffic led to clearing of a site directly east of townsite boundaries starting in 1929, which became Merrill Field. Merrill Field served as Anchorage's primary airport during the 1930s and 1940s, when it was replaced by Anchorage International Airport international cheap air ticket upon its opening in 1951. Merrill Field still serves a significant amount of general international cheap air ticket aviation traffic to this day.
Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson were constructed in the 1940s, and served as the city's primary economic engine until the 1968 Prudhoe Bay discovery shifted the thrust of the economy towards the oil industry. The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process international cheap air ticket led to the combining of the two bases (along with Kulis Air National Guard Base) to form Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
On March 27, 1964, Anchorage was hit by the magnitude 9.2 Good Friday Earthquake, which killed 115 Alaskans and caused $311 million ($1.8 billion in 2007 U.S. dollars) in damage. The earth-shaking event lasted nearly five minutes; most structures that failed remained intact the first few minutes, then failed with repeated flexing. international cheap air ticket It was the second largest earthquake in the recorded history of the world. Rebuilding dominated the remainder of the 1960s.
In 1968, oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay, and the resulting oil boom spurred further growth in Anchorage. In 1975, the City of Anchorage and the Greater Anchorage Area Borough (which includes Eagle River, Girdwood, Glen Alps, and several other communities) merged into the geographically larger Municipality of Anchorage.  The city continued to grow in the 1980s, and capital projects and an aggressive beautification campaign took place.