Ketchikan’s colorful past comes to life at new museum exhibit

What makes Ketchikan, a quaint town of 14,000 people in Southeast Alaska, so unique? The Tongass Historical Museum is trying to answer just that with its newest permanent exhibit, “Ketchikan Is.”

After months of renovations, its doors opened April 27 to highlight what defines the land, people and history of the tight-knit island community. Separated by different themes with intentional overlapping, the exhibit pays homage to its fishing history, red light district days, Alaska Native heritage and other defining characteristics of Ketchikan.

By placing Native artifacts and salvaged timber side by side, it illustrates how everything is intertwined.

– Megan O’Malley, The Alaska 100