Anchorage: then and now.

• Author: Miller, Amy
• Position: ALASKA TRENDS

This year marks Anchorage's 100th birthday, and the city has come a long way from its start as a shabby tent city of railroad construction workers.

The State of Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development website is home to official US Census Bureau research dating as far back as 1880 for Alaska as a territory, and, after statehood in 1959, as a state. Anchorage makes its first appearance as a census-recognized place in 1920, when no more than the population for "Anchorage town" was recorded (1,850 at the time).

The population climbed steadily through the 1930s and '40s and then ballooned between 1950 and 1960, following the successful statehood movement. Although the state of Alaska as a whole at times saw drastic differences between the percent of its male and female residents, this much-mythologized trend never really impacted Anchorage very much. The greatest gender disparity is seen in 1930, and it decreased to near-parity by the time Alaska became a state.

Data for the early years is spotty at best, but the census reports are a treasure trove for those wishing to understand Alaska's early history and social circumstances better. For example, in 1939, the Census Bureau released a report entitled "Census of Business: 1939, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico" that provides a snapshot into the city's early economy. At the...