Ketchikan's Racy Past

           Day by day, Matt and I have been learning loads more about Ketchikan as we talk to locals and explore. For instance, the island that the city of Ketchikan is located on is called Revillagigedo Island. Ketchikan is also the would-be site of Sarah Palin's "Bridge to Nowhere," a $400 million dollar project that proposed the construction of a bridge from Ketchikan to the island where its airport is located on to replace the ferry system, which everyone besides Sarah Palin and a few other lazy people think is just fine. Before it capitalized on the cruise tourism industry, Ketchikan's main industry came from timber and fishing. The logging industry reached its peak in the 1950s with the opening of two pulp mills but declined around 1990s as contracts ended and the Forest Service began restricting the availability of timber harvest in the Tongass National Forest- this was done to halt the clearcutting and pollution that was caused by the competing logging businesses.
          In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the working men of the fishing and logging industries didn't have much to entertain them, so in came the "working woman." In the 19th century the women worked all over Ketchikan but in 1903, city residents complained about their pervasive presence. Thus, the ladies of the night were kicked out of their residences and moved to set up shop on Creek Street where they would be out of sight, out of mind. By pushing all of these shady ladies into one location, the city accidentally set up its own red light district. Today, Creek Street stands in all its glory and is now a hotspot for different reasons- tourist attraction. 

Creek Street, where you can catch all sorts of crabs

      You'd be impressed with how gifted the folks in Ketchikan are at presenting its racy past to tourists- Creek Street is a hub of shops and hooker museums (not their official title). We've been learning all sorts of fun things about Ketchikan's past and will be sharing more soon. Other than absorbing knowledge Matt and I have been working hard and reading a lot because we don't have cable, which is fine with us. It is crazy to think that we graduated college two weeks ago, we already feel like we've always been here because of how friendly everyone is and how easy Ketchikan is to love. Matt has a day off coming soon and hopefully I will too so we can go explore our city some more.


Much love!!

Bridget