Pioneer Park (Fairbanks, Alaska)

History

Attractions

• Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts – theater, art gallery, and meeting hall.
• Crooked Creek & Whiskey Island Railroad – operating narrow gauge railroad which circumnavigates the park.
• Denali Observation car – the rail car used by President Warren G. Harding during a visit to Alaska in 1923 to formally complete the Alaska Railroad.
• Fairbanks Arts Association – a non-profit organization set up to promote contemporary and traditional arts in Interior Alaska.
• Gold Rush Town – 35 restored buildings from early Fairbanks, including the first church in Fairbanks and a house owned by Judge James Wickersham. Most now house gift shops and other merchants.
• Mini Golf Fairbanks – America's northernmost 36 hole Mini Golf Course.
• Mining Valley – contains working replica of a gold rush-era sluice gate.
• Pioneer Air Museum – aviation memorabilia and 14 aircraft; begun through the efforts of aviation historian Randy Acord.
• Pioneer Hall – designed to resemble an early-20th-century meeting hall. Includes the Pioneer Museum, which features Gold Rush memorabilia and the "Big Stampede" mural presentation.
• Replica Alaska Native village featuring artifacts.
• Replica of the wheelhouse of SS Lavelle Young, the steamer used by Fairbanks founder E.T. Barnette to reach the site of the settlement.
• SS Nenana – a sternwheeler that carried passengers and cargo on the Tanana and Yukon rivers from 1933 to 1954. At it is the second-longest wooden-hulled ship still in existence. Now a museum.
• Tanana Valley Railroad Museum – opened in 2006 and features the restored, narrow gauge 1899 TVRR Engine No. 1, the oldest working steam locomotive in Alaska and still operated on occasion by volunteers.