Museum Historical Timeline

1966 Anchorage City Council reserves portion of Block 74 Original Townsite for a history and art museum.

1967 Federal government creates a fund to build museums in Alaska communities as part of the Alaska Purchase Centennial. Kenneth Maynard, architect with Schultz and Maynard, designs a 10,000-square-foot museum with the Howard S. Lease Company as the construction contractor. The Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum is born.

1968 The Museum opens its doors July 18, 1968.

1973 A bond issue passes to build an addition to the Museum.

1975 A 15,000-square-foot addition, designed by architect Kenneth Maynard, is added as a “west wing” to the museum. A cast concrete frieze (originally 40 panels, each weighing several tons), designed by artist Alex Duff Combs, extended around the building’s exterior.

1982 With income from oil revenues, the Alaska State Legislature funds a major building project for the Municipality of Anchorage known as Project ‘80s, and the Anchorage Assembly designates funds to enlarge the Museum. Anchorage architectural firm Maynard and Partch, in association with architect Steven Goldberg with the New York firm of Mitchell/Giurgola, designs the renovations and the new building with Anchorage contractors Ken Brady Construction Co., Interstate Company, and Lease Kissee Construction Co.

1985 Now a 90,000-square-foot facility, with a construction project led by Ken Brady Construction Co., the Museum is renamed the Anchorage Museum of History and Art.

1986 The expanded Anchorage Museum of History and Art opens to the public.

1992 The Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center opens an office at the Anchorage Museum.

1996 The block on which the Museum is built is named the “Rasmuson Center” by the Municipality of Anchorage, honoring Elmer and Mary Louise Rasmuson for their commitment to the growth and development of the Museum throughout its history.

2003 David Chipperfield Architects wins an international competition for an expansion of the Museum.

2009 The glass-façade, 26,000-square-foot expansion, designed by David Chipperfield Architects with Kumin Associates of Anchorage as the architect-of-record and Alcan General leading construction, opens to the public. The institution’s name changes to Anchorage Museum.

2010 The Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center galleries and research center opens at the Museum.

2015 McCool Carlson Green and Davis Constructors & Engineers of Anchorage are selected as the designer and general contractor for a new wing to the Museum.

2016 The museum breaks ground on the new wing.

2017 The Rasmuson Wing opens to the public, made possible by contributions from the Rasmuson family and Rasmuson Foundation, creating a 247,000-square-foot Anchorage Museum.