Kodiak commission suggests 25 places, from a fishing boat to a cairn, for history survey

A wooden fishing boat, a cannery and the single-room buildings where cannery workers once lived are among 25 places Kodiak's Historic Preservation Commission has suggested for a new city survey of historic sites. The survey is set to document up to 20 of them.

The places were suggested during a discussion at the commission's Oct. 1 meeting, according to draft minutes they're set to approve Friday. Gianna Kersch of True North Sustainable Development Solutions, the firm the city hired for the survey, led the discussion.

Several suggestions are on the working waterfront: the fishing vessel Kilkenny and other historic wooden boats, the APS Cannery, Pacific Seafoods and Kodiak Marine Supply. Tagura Road and its neighborhood, including TT Fuller's boat yard, made the list too.

The list also includes the former house and banya of Benny Benson, who designed Alaska's flag as a teenager, along with the Chernoff House, the old Kraft house and Markham's home. It names St. Herman Cemetery, an "original cemetery underneath hotel parking lots" and the Pillar Mountain cairn known as "Chuchala."

Rounding it out are Cope Street, Natalia Lane, Yukon Street, Fisherman's Hall, the B&B Bar, McDonald's, a brewery building, Kodiak Community Baptist Church, the Roy H. Madsen Justice Center and Kodiak College.

The survey is meant to expand the city's inventory of historic places, which includes properties with very little formal documentation, according to the commission's Oct. 1 packet. A Historic Preservation Fund grant covers 60% of the project.

On Friday, commissioners will also redo their Oct. 1 vote recommending that a lease application from the Kodiak Maritime Museum and Kodiak History Museum for the 1938 Griffin Memorial Hospital building fits the design intent the commission adopted for it that day. The motion came from an alternate member, which isn't allowed when all regular commissioners are present. The City Council agreed in September not to sell the building for now.