Answering reader questions: Why is there an area of Anchorage called Abbott Loop when Abbott Road doesn’t loop?

Part of a continuing weekly series on local history by local historian David Reamer. Have a question about Anchorage history or an idea for a future article? Go to the form at the bottom of this story.

Over the last two years, I have answered more than 2,000 history questions from readers. The following are some of the most interesting.

When was the first organized bicycle race in Alaska history?

The first organized bicycle race for which I have been able to find evidence was part of the 1898 Fourth of July festivities in Skagway. The race was open to any contestants and ran the “length of (the) wharf,” likely meaning the town’s Juneau Wharf that extended over the water. The first-place prize was a box of cigars, a bit of old-school Alaska that the Arctic Bicycle Club has not yet attempted to replicate. Four days later, at that same wharf, notorious gangster and conman Jefferson “Soapy” Smith was killed in a shootout.

Why is an area of Anchorage near Abbott Road called Abbott Loop when Abbott Road does not loop?

Road names and even their paths can change dramatically over time. Abbott Road was originally a loop onto what is now Lake Otis Parkway, then called Otis Lake Road or Hillstrand Boulevard. As seen on a 1954 Anchorage map, Abbott Road then included parts of what is now East 68th Avenue, Elmore Road and Abbott Road. That loop contained a neighborhood that became known as Abbott Loop, a name that lingered decades after the road names changed.

A similar local example is Sand Lake Road, which used to form a large U-shaped course around Sand Lake that included what is now Raspberry Road, Sand Lake Road and Dimond Boulevard. Due to poor city planning and multiple civic authorities, road names in the Anchorage Bowl used to be sloppier. Some roads had multiple names depending on who or which agency you asked. And some street names were confusingly repeated. As in, there was once a Susitna Street, Susitna Boulevard, and Susitna View Parkway. Similarly, there have been multiple roads simultaneously named Alder, Darby, Glenn, Maple and Northwood, among other examples.

[Histories of Anchorage: Why isn’t there a J Street? And other reader questions]

Why is there a monument to E. G. Fenn on the Park Strip?

E.G. Fenn — real name Elmo though few seemed to call him that — was a city surveyor, pioneer in Alaska surveying and fierce advocate for winter sports education in schools. Per a 1977 Anchorage Times article, “Fenn was an early leader of the surveying profession in Alaska. He was instrumental in the establishment of subdivision regulations in Anchorage and worked on projects such as updating monumentation and the definition of boundaries within the city.” Before Fenn, surveying rigor in Anchorage was inconsistent, often to the point of outright sloppiness.

He died in a 1967 helicopter accident on a surveying assignment outside Juneau. The monument at West 10th Avenue and I Street was erected in 1977. It cost $3,000, roughly $14,000 today after accounting for inflation, and was paid for by the Alaska Society of Professional Land Surveyors. In addition, it was built as a calibration baseline that surveyors could use to line up their equipment.

Is it true that Cowanesque Rock at the Kennedy Entrance to the Cook Inlet, south of the Kenai Peninsula, is named for a tanker that hit it? What happened?

On Oct. 17, 1960, early in the morning, the USNS Cowanesque, a T-2 tanker on its way to Anchorage with 130,000 barrels worth of jet fuel and avgas, hit a then-uncharted rock south of the Kenai Peninsula tip. Eight of the nine tanks on the port side were ripped open. The ship was never in danger of sinking, nor is there any mention of crew injuries. The captain reported a four-degree list, but the ship wasn’t taking on water and was no longer leaking fuel by the end of the day.

The Cowanesque’s captain initially prepared to meet the USNS Suanmico at Bluff Point north of Kachemak Bay and transfer the remaining cargo. That plan was quickly dismissed given the environmental danger to Homer and Seldovia. Instead, the Cowanesque went west and anchored off Chinitna Bay. Then it met the Suanmico off Kalgin Island, transferred the remaining fuel, and was later towed to Seattle for repair. The Suanmico proceeded to Anchorage for the delivery.

Can you tell me about the restaurant that was where the Eagle River Nature Center is today?

That was the Paradise Haven Lodge that was open by 1971 at the latest. John Barclay (1930-1991) was the proprietor. He was a large — 6′ 3″ and 300 pounds — and boisterous Texan who moved to Eagle River in 1955 to homestead.

His vision was for the lodge to become the “gateway to the Chugach State Park.” Understandably, he also wanted to make money, which led him into conflict with conservationists. In 1971, he applied for a liquor license but was opposed by the Sierra Club, Anchorage Nordic Ski Club, and some of his neighbors who were concerned that such a development would negatively affect both the neighborhood and park.

After an initial rejection, Barclay won his license on appeal. However, in fairness to the critics, the lodge’s opening caused immediate parking issues. In addition, there were noise complaints throughout the 1970s as the sounds of revving engines became the norm. Barclay regularly sponsored races of nearly every form, including motorcycles, cars, ATVs and snowmachines.

Restaurants are difficult operations in the best of times and at better locations than the Paradise Haven Lodge. By 1980, he was struggling with unpaid debts. In April 1980, he sold the property to the state. Various sources have the building and five acres selling for between $248,700 to $260,000, roughly $850,000 to $900,000 after accounting for inflation.

After the sale, state employees described the building as a poorly maintained wreck. The Eagle River Visitors Center opened on March 29, 1981. In 1996, the state turned over the operation of the center to a private group, and the site was renamed the Eagle River Nature Center.

In the 1990s, there was a new Mercedes dealership just west of Peggy’s Restaurant on Fifth Avenue. The dealership was only there for a year or so before the buildings were carefully taken down. Why did the dealership move, and why has the land remained empty since then?

In the spring of 1991, Harold Nye’s Import Center, which was indeed a Mercedes dealer, opened a new location at 1525 East Fifth Avenue, next to Peggy’s Restaurant and across the street from Merrill Field. Just over a year later, the city bought the land for about $1.8 million, around $3.5 million after inflation. In September 1992, the Import Center relocated its stock to its older location at 821 East Fifth Avenue.

That 1525 East Fifth Avenue property is directly north of the north-south runway at Merrill Field. For years, pilots, Merrill Field management, and the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, complained that the runway required additional space as crash room, a safety measure for overshoots. That is why the property remains empty to this day. The city had unsuccessfully tried to purchase the land before the Import Center. According to contemporary sources, the FAA and Alaska Department of Transportation would repay the cost to the city.

Critics at the time claimed the city had overpaid for the property, which had been previously valued for less than $1 million. However, the city contracted three independent appraisals that each appraised the property at around the purchase price.

Key sources:

Hunt, Daniel W. Greater Anchorage Area Guide Map. Anchorage: D.W. Hunt, August 1954.

“John Barclay obituary.” Anchorage Times, September 11, 1991, B2.

“Let the Eagle Scream!” [Skagway] Daily Alaskan, July 2, 1898, 4.

“Liquor License in Park Fought.” Anchorage Times, March 31, 1971, 2.

Murkowski, Carol. “Paradise Found at End of the Road.” Anchorage Times, March 26, 1981, D-1.

“Navy Tanker Rips Side on Rock in Cook Inlet.” Anchorage Times, October 17, 1960, 1.

Panarese, Pete. “Nature Center Seeks Grant for Improved Parking.” Chugiak—Eagle River Star, April 7, 2016, alaskastar.com/2016-04-06/nature-center-seeks-grant-improved-parking.

“Park Strip Monument Honors City Surveyor.” Anchorage Times, June 9, 1977, 16.

“State Chooses Site for Visitor’s Center.” Anchorage Times, April 25, 1980, B-3.

“Tanker Still Unloading.” Anchorage Times, October 19, 1960, 11.