Palmer, Alaska, is in the center of the lush farmlands of the Matanuska Valley.
Palmer area services
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Lodging
Charters and tours
It's 42 miles northeast of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway and about 10 miles east of Wasilla.
The historic town's population is 4,533.
Palmer's economy is based on a diversity of retail and other services and city, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, state and federal government. Some light manufacturing occurs. Many are employed in Anchorage. More than 70 area residents hold commercial fishing permits.
Palmer is home to 200 musk oxen whose underwool (qiviut) is knitted into garments by Alaska Native women from 12 rural villages. Between 2,500 and 3,500 garments are created each year by these women and sold by an Anchorage cooperative. The 75-acre musk ox farm just east of town is also a tourist attraction.
The University of Alaska has an agricultural and forestry experiment station office and a district Cooperative Extension Service office. The university's Matanuska Research Farm is located in Palmer.
Palmer lies on the Glenn Highway. The Palmer Municipal Airport supports private and chartered services with two paved airstrips, one at 6,000 feet and the other at 3,616 feet. There are seven additional privately owned airstrips in the vicinity. Floatplanes may land at nearby Finger Lake or Wolf Lake. The Alaska Railroad connects Palmer to Whittier, Seward or Anchorage for ocean freight delivery.
Twelve percent of the population is Alaska Native or part Native.
Recreation
The valley is renowned for the annual Alaska State Fair, where local farmers produce large vegetables.
Popular recreation sites include Bonnie, Finger and Long lakes. Sport fishing for trout and grayling is popular in the Kepler-Bradley collection of lakes west of town and for salmon in tributaries to the Knik River. Hikers enjoy Bodenburg Butte and Pioneer Peak, as well as trails in the Hatcher Pass area. Winter enthusiasts also use Hatcher Pass for snowmachining, skiing and snowboarding.
The average temperatures in January range from 4 to 21; in July, 44 to 67. Annual precipitation is 16.5 inches, with 50 inches of snowfall. Strong, often dusty winds arrive in winter from over the Chugach Range.
History
Palmer was established around 1916 as a railway station on the Matanuska Branch of the Alaska Railroad. In 1935, Palmer became the site of one of the most unusual experiments in American history: the Matanuska Valley Colony. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, one of the many New Deal relief agencies created by President Roosevelt, planned an agricultural colony in Alaska.
Two hundred three families, mostly from Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, were invited to join the colony. They arrived in Palmer in the early summer of 1935. Although the failure rate was high, many of their descendants still live in the Mat-Su Valley today.
Gold mining was important in Hatcher Pass north of Palmer. Independence Mine State Historical Park is now a popular attraction.
The city of Palmer was formed in 1951. Construction of the statewide road system, and the rapid development of Anchorage has fueled growth in the Mat-Su valley.
