Fairbanks' beloved 'Little White Church on the River' stands for 120 years of local history.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Once upon a time, back when Fairbanks began, prospectors were flooding in to find fame and riches in the gold rush. It did not take long before the necessities of town life grew up along the banks of the Chena River - such as a certain little white Catholic church.
When St. Joseph’s Hospital opened its doors on the north side of the Chena near Cushman Street, on Thanksgiving Day of 1906, this posed a separate problem for the parish. The priests’ duties pulled them back and forth from the church on the south bank and the hospital on the north bank all day, and the Cushman Street Bridge had not yet been built.
“At that time there was a lot of doubt in the community as to whether this would be a successful adventure,” Bowman said with a laugh. “So the local bookmakers were taking bets as to the success or failure, and the odds against success were much higher.” The lot next to the hospital was originally used for a sawmill, and then for the Fairbanks Community Swimming Pool. When the church was set on top of it, that swimming pool became the basement.
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