Alaska's cities
Anderson, Alaska
Parks Highway town has missile-warning site and a bluegrass festival
Alaska.com
Anderson, Alaska, lies on a spur road six miles west of the Parks Highway, 76 miles southwest of Fairbanks and 285 miles north of Anchorage.
Clear Air Station is located within the city boundaries.
Anderson, with a population of about 520, has a cold, continental climate with maritime influences in the summer.
The average high temperature during July is from 66 to 70; the average low during January is minus 6 to minus 24. Extreme temperatures have been measured from minus 63 to 98. Average annual precipitation is 12.7 inches, with annual snowfall of 49.3 inches.
Clear Air Station, the school, city and other government positions employ over 92 percent of the residents of Anderson. A $106.5 million intercontinental ballistic missile radar warning system, PAVE PAWS, will identify and warn of missiles launched from Asia and Europe.
The Clear Fish Hatchery provides small stocks of gamefish to area streams and lakes, and has been the only commercial hatchery to rear sheefish. Residents often travel to Fairbanks to purchase goods and services.
The Alaska Railroad serves Anderson and Clear. A state-owned 4,000-foot lighted asphalt runway is located at Clear Airport, four miles south of town along the access road. Charters and private aircraft serve the airstrip. A private 2,500-foot dirt strip is located at Clear Sky Lodge. Lost Slough, a large slough of the Nenana River, is located less than a mile west of town. It is used for fishing, but the river is too shallow for cargo transportation.
The city is the home of the Anderson Bluegrass Festival, held the last weekend of each July.
Six percent of the population is Alaska Native or part Native. Most of Anderson's residents are non-Native military personnel or civilian employees of Clear Air Force Station and their families.
History
The city is named for Arthur Anderson, one of several homesteaders who settled in the area in the late 1950s. In 1959, Anderson subdivided his 80-acre homestead into quarter-acre lots for sale. Most of these lots were purchased by civilian workers from Clear Air Station, a ballistic missile early warning site completed in 1961.
An elementary school was established in the community in 1961, and Anderson incorporated as a city in 1962. It is part of the Denali Borough. A road was completed between Anderson and Nenana, which allowed easy access to Fairbanks. Vehicles were ferried across the Tanana River at Nenana until 1968, when a $6 million steel bridge was completed. By 1971, the Parks Highway was constructed, which enabled road access to Anchorage.
Source: Alaska Department of Community and Economic Development
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