Anchorage Pioneer Jane Mears

Did you know that when Anchorage began in 1915, our featured pioneer pushed to create the first children's school? Meet Jane Mears in this edition.

In the 1919 photo above are Jane and Frederick Mears

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Frederick Mears to the Alaska Engineering Commission (AEC) to build the Alaska Railroad and set up the AEC headquarters on Ship Creek Flats (now Anchorage).

The photo above shows Jane Mears, an avid outdoors person, with a Caribou

Jennifer “Jane” Wainwright-Mears

Tent City on Ship Creek flats in 1915

The Mears family included Frederick, Jane and two daughters, Josephine, and Elizabeth, when Jane and the daughters first arrived at Ship Creek flats. Two more children, Helen and Frederick III, were born later on.

They arrived in tent city on Ship Creek flats in May 1915. At that time, the family home was a tent with a floor of wood planks.

Family meals were cooked over a wood-burning stove, and a kerosene lantern provided light inside the tent.

A Cottage on Government Hill

Later, the family moved into the Alaska Engineering Commission owned cottage No.6 located on Government Hill north of the terminal yards.

In January 1917, the family relocated to cottage No. 29, a two-story home overlooking Cook Inlet and Ship Creek flats.

The Anchorage Women’s Club

Pictured above is the Anchorage Woman’s Club, May 20, 1920

In the picture, notice the signs. On the left the sign reads Pioneer Express, wood, coal, lumber. Under that sign is another that reads, Anchorage Gold Mine Co. And to the right is a sign that reads, Luncheonette, waffles.

Jane Mears organized the Anchorage Women’s Club at her home on September 16, 1915, with a group of 34 women, because of the need for a school.

Mears served as the first President from 1915 to 1917 and again from 1921 to 1922.

Yes, you can share this Edition

Your friends and family will be so happy when you share this Anchorage Pioneers edition of your Alaska VIP Club with them, that they will send you a lifetime supply of your favorite cookies. Yummy. Well, it could happen.

The Woman’s Club and the Anchorage School System

Jane went to her husband to ask him to build a much-needed school.

“It is said that when Jane Mears approached her husband, Lt. Col. Fredrick Mears of the Alaska Engineering Commission, and asked him to build a school, his reply was, “I'm busy building a railroad; if you want a school you'll have to build it yourself.”

Oh Well, it’s a School

Jane and the members of the Anchorage Women’s Club made it happen.

The first school opened on Monday, November 15, 1915. It quickly became home to one hundred students, and four teachers, including Principal, Orah Dee Clark.

The four-room, wooden structure had been built in less than a month in the summer of 1915.

The school had no running water and did not meet the town’s sanitary regulations.

A Bigger School

In the fall of 1917, the Anchorage Woman’s Club helped the Alaska Engineering Commission build a larger school.

Located on 5th Avenue between F and G streets, the new school was used for elementary and secondary classes.

The school was later torn down and replaced with the Central Grade School.

Parent Teacher Association

Jane Mears and the Anchorage Women’s Club also put together the first Anchorage Parent Teacher Association.

A Name Change

The Park Strip, near downtown Anchorage, served as the community’s first airfield, with a golf course in operation at the same time.

But Anchorage air traffic quickly outgrew the Park Strip, so a new airport called Aviation Field was built. You’ll know where shortly.

On April 2, 1930, the Anchorage Woman’s Club successfully headed a resolution to rename Aviation Field.

Pictured above is Merrill Field

As a result, the airport was named Merrill Field, after famed Alaska bush pilot, Russel Hyde Merrill.

She Made a Lasting Impression

In the photo above is Mears Middle School (once Mears Junior High)

In 1965, Mears Junior High School was named in honor of Jane Mears and her many contributions to the education of Anchorage school children and the Anchorage school system.

Jane Wainwright - Mears passed away in Los Angeles, California on December 17, 1953

Jane was an Anchorage pioneer who made lasting contributions to a place we know as Anchorage, Alaska.

BONUS

Would you like to know more?

Take a look at Jane Mears Biography and discover.

From our North Stars (that’s you)

From our Alaska Facts edition.

“You guys put out a high-quality product, consistently. Keep up the great work. Old timers like me really enjoy all of it.”

Jim

“Every time I see a picture of the old Knik River Bridge, I’m taken back in time to December 1960.

My dad had been transferred to Ft. Rich from Ft. Benning, Georgia and we drove the whole way. I was 5 at the time, but still remember so clearly crossing that bridge.

Colder than all git out in a VW bus and dark, of course. But in the mind of a five-year-old, I knew we were getting close to Anchorage, and the excitement was unbelievable. I remember the sound of the wooden bridge and, if I remember right, wooden “guardrails.” I’ll never forget it, thanks Mike and Mary!”

Rndeadeye

“Now THAT (the Knik River Bridge) is how I remember going to and from north central for fishing, camping, hunting trips. None of that “over the flats” things.”

Randall

Reach Out to Mike and Mary

Jane Mears was certainly someone who got things done in early Anchorage.

Do you have a comment about our Jane Mears edition? We would love to hear from you. And you can reply to this email.

Or you can say “I went to Mears Junior High” by Contacting Us on our Anchorage Memories.com website.

Well, schools out for the day. Remember your homework and eat some cookies and milk for us too.

Until Next Time

Mike and Mary

Anchorage Memories.com