The Wrangell sentinel., 1935-11-13
WRANGELL INSTITUTE

Stantly asked about Wrangell In stitute and it's beginning. Many of the Indian folk of s. E. Alaska do not know exactly how the school came to be and we thought this would be a good opportunity to pre- sent the picture of the starting of Wrangell Institute.
 AS is the case with all large pro- jects, it takes many years of talk ing, surveying, proving, etc, in order to get congress to begin work on the project and then many more years of hard work and talking to get money to begin on the project. It was early in the 192O's that the Alaska Native Brotherhood began work on securing a school such as Wrangell Institute in S. E. Alaska for their people. At their conven- tion in one of those years, the need for the school was brought up and each year afterwards until a little action was finally secured from Washington. Through the A. N. B. representative in Washington a promise was received from a Congressman that he would sponsor bill to provide s5OO,O0O to build school in Alaska for the Indian folk. With this to work on the A. N B. worked harder than ever to get data and talking points to pre- sent before Congress. After a num- Der of years working on the pro ject they asked the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce to aid them in order to get more people behind the project.
 After many sessions of congress had passed, one finally approved the naming of a committee to in- vestigate the project and they made a trip to Alaska and were met in Wrangell and shown the site proposed for the school. Several other sites were also shown the visiting congressman. The WrangeH site had more talking points than the other and convinced the men that this was the place for the school. They made their report back to the next congress and some time later little money was appropri- ated for the beginning of the con- structlon work on the school.
 Much credit Is due the A. N. B. for starting this worthwhile project and seeing it through, although if took number of years. Credit is also due the Wfangell Chamber of Commerce for their hard work on the project also.
 In the spring of 1881, actual work started on the construction or Wrangell Institute. Contract was let for clearing the land. After that the contracts were let for construc- tion of the school building and the two dormitories. Later still in the late fall the Staff House was constructed and in the early spring or 1882 the Health Center was built.
 On October 4, 1892, the doors of Wrangell Institute opened for the first time to admit students. Fred Johnson of Deweyville was the first student to register at Wrangeu In- stitute. The first year 73 students attended the school. LeRoy F. Jack son was the Director for the first two years. At the beginning the school had seven staff members and nurse. The staff now numbers eight teachers and a nurse and sey- eral student apprentices or assist ants,
 Alter serving two years as Direc- tor' MT. Jackson was called to head the Burke School at Fort Wingate, New Mexico, and Charles Miller. present Director, succeeded him.
 Among the first staff members stlll present on the staff are Mrs. Mabel Borland, B. R. Sharnbroich and MT. Cassida. MT. Silver came to the school during the spring of lSS3. Miss Mann took up her du- ties in the fall of last school year and MT. Mize arrived in February of 1884. Miss Fiber is the latest addition te the staff, taking the place of Mrs. Edmunson who ob- tained an extended leave of absence last month.
 Among our students we see many new faces with three or four re- maining from the first group. Dur ing the first two years students were admitted from the sixth grade up through high school During the past two years students were admit ted after passing the eighth grade.
 Wrangell Institute has been slow ly finding it's place in the lives of the people of S. E. Alaska. Many plans are made and are being made to increase it's usefulness and give