Seward's Day Holiday

City Hall and City facilities will be closed in honor of Sewards Day.

Seward’s Day commemorates when the United States bought Alaska from Russia for about $7.2 million in 1867. William Henry Seward, who was Secretary of State at the time, signed the treaty with Russia on March 30, 1867.

Many people thought that the price was outrageously high and called the action “Seward’s folly” or “Seward’s icebox” after he arranged the transaction.

Many Americans believed that there was nothing in the vast wasteland that would interest them. The Russians suffered great losses when they owned the land and the cost of maintaining a remote outpost was great so they sold the land to the United States. Doubters’ opinions changed in 1897 when gold was discovered along the Klondike River, drawing many fortune seekers to the area.

Alaska’s natural resources paid back the initial investment many times over. Its natural gas, coal and oil reserves, in addition to its seafood and lumber industries, eventually proved to be more valuable than its gold. Seward died in New York in 1872 and did not live to see his foresight commemorated as a legal holiday in Alaska.