Historic Fairbanks hardware store to be demolished for road project
Published Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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FAIRBANKS -- Historic photos of downtown Fairbanks often include the Samson Hardware store, which has sat on the northern bank of the Chena River since the city was founded a century ago.
Many of those photos hang inside the store itself — although not for much longer.
Owners of the Fairbanks landmark received word from a state judge last month that it and a neighboring barber shop would need to move out by mid-January to make way for an upcoming bridge project.
“I guess it’s progress, we do need a bridge there,” said customer Mike Dynes, who stopped in early Monday afternoon to buy a steel chimney brush. “(But) there’s a lot of history in this old building.”
The store’s manager said owners hope to reopen somewhere close to the current North Cushman Street site but have yet to nail down plans.
With work on the bridge slated to begin in two or three years, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has bought properties along the river’s north bank and plans to begin demolishing Samson and the surrounding buildings — excluding the Big I bar, which state officials say will get to stay put — early this summer.
The state has also bought other properties along both sides of Illinois Street, including an apartment building and warehouse also previously owned by the Jackovich family, which owns Samson Hardware.
The store was built in 1903, according to Jackovich family members who testified in court hearings this year over the property. It was originally a wood-frame building that once burned and is now housed within concrete block walls.
Company manager Mike Pederson said the store will need to close Dec. 15 so it can meet the judge’s mid-January eviction deadline. He said it has its eye on a couple of potential sites for a new store, but views May as the soonest it could possibly reopen.
“We’re just crossing our fingers,” Pederson said.
The store stocks items and tools old and new — pulleys, rope, duct tape, coolers, shovels, and, of course, loose hardware. One wall near the back is reserved for antique tools, some rustier than others, from Fairbanks’ historic mining-town years.
A pair of cracked leather boots once belonging to Jimmy Barrack, who owned the store for a stretch during the first half of the 20th century, hangs from one post.
Disagreements over a fair sale price for the store, the barber shop, a small neighboring apartment building and a warehouse sent the state and Samson’s owners to court earlier this year. State officials eventually offered more than $900,000 for the cluster of properties including the hardware store — slightly more than they’d originally offered two years ago but less than half what the family had sought, according to court records.
The state claimed ownership of the property early this year. The Jackovich family continued to look for a new location while the state prepared for the long-discussed bridge project, one state officials said in court would likely bring the demolition of Samson Hardware this spring.
Judge Mark Wood issued an order in late October directing Samson Hardware to move out by Jan. 15. Pederson said while Fairbanks-based state transportation specialists worked well with the store’s owners, the company experienced a mix of “disappointment and disgust” this year when top-level state officials pushed, and the judge agreed, to evict the company this winter.
“After 104 years, you’d think they’d treat us a little better,” he said.
Samson stands between North Fairbanks and a road-and-bridge project that has been on the table for decades.
The state plans to build the new bridge as one leg of a multimillion-dollar rebuild of Illinois Street and North Cushman Street, along with a bit of road work south of the Chena River.
Road planners first announced the so-called “Illinois Street Project” in the 1970s. After delays and a reworking of the plan, state and local officials revived efforts a few years ago and drew funding from other proposed projects to get started.
The Illinois Street project will spare another landmark of sorts, the International Bar & Lounge — best known as the Big I — in the same strip mall where Samson currently sits.
State transportation spokeswoman Meadow Bailey said the state is developing plans to demolish the buildings, which contain lead paint, asbestos and other hazardous materials, this spring. She said the state hopes to help Samson find a new home before demolition begins.
Contact staff writer Christopher Eshleman at 459-7582.
Community Discussion
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It's bad enough when the box stores come in and blow out local businesses. But now we have the state joining in the feeding frenzy. Can't let the little guy earn his way. Gotta clear him out in the name of progress.
Criminal. Absolutely criminal.
It's puke. Absolutely puke. The kind of mentality that makes me wonder do I want to stay after seeing so much torn up through the years...
The DOT engineers are crap. Cubicle inhabitors. Computer figurers making up designs that have to reworked by the people actually doing the job and actually, OMG! at the sight. I've known a few, and they were real nice folks, but didn't have a clue outside in the real world of construction...
I figured, for example, when Johannson was built; then redone; then redone...(I know in 2002 somebody slammed my rear-end there), they would have enough brains to...like...put in a
right turn going north?
No. Not the Smart Guys.
Look at the brilliant job they've done with the northeast box side. Imbecilic.
I could tell lots of stories about memories of Sampson's. I'm sure plenty can. It is one of a kind.
The whole thing makes me sick.
I'm sure there's another way. I don't care how bad or how long "they've" had their hearts set on it.
This project should be shelved. When it was first conceived- about a quarter century ago it might have made sense based on projected growth patterns for the city.
Well guess what? Those growth patterns changed.
The new Fairbanks is along the Johansen Expressway. Large retailers provided what their customers wanted, large, well lit parking lots- without the downtown parking police to harass people. Business road access that is quick and convenient. And no drunks to harass customers like we still see downtown.
So the downtown area is NOT where the significant commerce is happening any longer.
The road/bridge project is no longer needed- only bureaucratic inertia keeps it moving along. Forget that the project no longer makes a lick of sense.
Gov. Palin should step in and shut this idiotic project down. The bridge to nowhere makes more sense then this one does.
I'm failing to see the practicality of demolishing Samson's but leaving the Big I standing. How the heck does that work? When I imagined that whole series of buildings gone, it all made sense, but if you're working around the Big I, surely you could work around Samson's too!
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It will be sad to see Samson Hardware go. I've shopped there many times over many years.
This entire project of rebuilding Illinois Street with the Round-a-bout and the new bridge has me at a total loss. I've been against it from when it was first announced. Fairbanks keeps saying we need to keep our identity, but we pull out a shotgun and shoot ourself in the leg instead. Maybe not totally loosing our identity but coming damn close. This project could be burned in the dumpster behind the Big I and no body would notice, but maybe one or two. So what's ultimatly happening is, is others are sacrificing for a collective few whos' investments will hopefully ultimatly flourish.
If it was Wal-Mart that they wanted to move, their lawyers would hold it up in court for decades.
This is a sad, sad day in Fairbanks!! I woke up this morning to this, and like Corinne, I am sick. Samson Hardware is the last, or damn close to it, of the "old" Fairbanks businesses. I also believe as one poster put it, that the growth pattern of Fairbanks has changed since this project first took shape. After they killed downtown Fairbanks in the early 80s, and trust me, FDA (Fairbanks Destruction Authority) killed it, the whole shape of downtown took on a whole different look. Gone was the development and growth to the south towards Airport Rd. and all of a sudden the Bently Trust property was golden! This project should be stopped!!! Is Fairbanks ready to give up the last business that has been here since the first days?? Well, I guess we all know that answer.
It is indeed a sad day for Fairbanks if Sampson's goes away. They have always had items that you could not find in any box store or any other hardware. Shoppped there for 30 years and it should be declared an historic landmark. That way it would be kept safe from "development" that is not needed and nobody wants. What's the next icon of Fairbanks they are going to do away with? Time to put a stop to this one.
CPW
Sampson Hardware store will not be able to compete with the big chain stores, we have seen that story unfold way too many times here in Fairbanks. The Jackovichs I am sad to say would be better off just to sell off their inventory than to prolong the death sentence that the citys think tank gave them.
Am I the only one who has noticed that the Big I building is just one small earthquake from falling in on itself. What the hell are they thinking by keeping that building. When construction starts and the huge earth digging equipment start shaking the ground that building will surely suffer major consequences because of it. Time will tell, but I am telling you now.
BTW, that's Johannson at Geist.
I think we should all act like greenies in trees and have a sit in when the wreckers come.
I mean it. I've been saying around the homestead for years every time I think about this. Since they have to be out by next month, the business will be wrecked already.
Yeah, do the dirty deed in the winter at Christamastime.
Another one of my ideas that takes mucho bodies. If enough want to, I'm there.
Great! Is this truly PROgress? Sounds like Fairbanks is becoming Los Anchorage - all for PROgress.
You know what is more sickening? The hardware store family (for lack of better words) has been in business LONG before Alaska was a State in the Union.
It's obvious that the people in charge of this development have not lived here for any length of time and definitely does not have any appreciation for the beauty or quaintness of Fairbanks.
Let's start protesting all the box stores and the development.
Can we evict these people from Alaska?
6bass, The Big I managed to get registered as a historic landmark, the state can't legally tear it down. It was originally included in the plans, but the plans had to be reworked after the Big I got that designation. From what I understand, Samsons tried that but it was after the plans were filed with the State, so they were turned down.
I can understand why they want to make that area accessible to two way traffic. It would provide an alternative route to the Steese from NE Fairbanks to Airport way. However, it is sad that there isn't a way to let the businesses there stay put.
The whole mess should go, its just a matter of time before they rot away anyway. I agree , downtown died in the 80's and will never recover as a town. Time changes everything , there is no longer a Faribanks because of personal greed. Oh well at least the bigest drug house will remain, cocane sales will not be slowed...
Just want to register my opinion as to the tearing down of Samson's Hardware. The city is growing, but out where the big box stores are. Why not keep downtown Fairbanks intact? And Samson's has always been a place for locals and bush people to get things important to our lifestyle. If public opinion counts for anything then let's try to keep Samson's open.
That is so sad..I love that shop!
When they moved the old coal bunkers they said they were going to be saved as a historic landmark...Anybody know where they are??
How can I show my kids the Fairbanks I knew if it is no longer there?
The Hospital I was born in is now a bank, The Northward building no longer houses little shops, Foodland is gone and south side has 0 grovery stores near where elder and lower income people were encouraged to live, who don't, for the most part, have cars or can afford cabs? The Gavora Mall used to be a fun place to go when I was little and now it just a big fabric store with liquor on the side...at least a Hardware store is still downstairs.
All the people who are happy with downtown didn't know it the way I did I guess..It is not the boisterous, lively place I grew up with. There is absolutely no place to go have a cup of coffee and breakfast downtown anymore that is open before 10! Woolworths, The Pioneer hotel, bar & cafe, The Star of the North Cafe, The Pastime cafe & Co-Op cafe were all downtown and all used to be open around 7 a.m.! As little as 15 years ago downtown was a gathering place of all walks, at any time of day or night..now it is a sterile tourist shop..That I don't take my visitors to see. If you don't recognize the names or know the locations you are probably all for what it has become. This is going to make my dad cry! Eminent Domain SUCKS!
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/2...
The project is scheduled in a couple of years. Do they have the money in a bank account? I won't count on any promise of government money someday in the future. It will probably be another piece of Fairbanks torn down and turned into a parking lot, because the funds for the project weren't enough and new money would not be appropriated.
The city and borough planners and council and assembly have turned Fairbanks into a piece of junk. This town at one time had some character and characters. The only store where you could find everything you needed to set up to burn wood, no wonder Whitaker and his group want it gone.
Most Fairbanksans would consider Samson Hardware more of a "historical site" than the Big I. This 60-year resident has been in Samson's many, many times; in the Big I, never.
To design such an expensive bridge/road project around a dive like the Big I is absurd. The plan explained at the library some years back was to essentially build a park for the Big I's sole use. Bad ideas...
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Scooby, I hear you. seems every time I come up, Fbnks is looking more and more like Anch, which is looking more and more like the Lower 48, which is looking and feeling uglier by the day. and of course, travel outside the US and you see it there too.
a part of me says this is outrageous, and a part of me says no, we can't fight them, this is the nature of the global economy. I do wonder how these projects are moving forward when we are in the midst of an economic crisis, but yes, presumably this was budgeted a while back. so we'll really feel the hurt a couple years down the road yet.
some days I feel like we just can't win here....
I am sad to hear that the Fairbanks that I knew and loved during the late sixties has been ruined by the greedy. When I was stationed at Eielson,I grew to really like the will of Alaskans who kept a piece of the last frontier alive. You folks going to allow this "progress"?
Just wondering if any Historic Preservation work has/will be done? It is a Federal requirement when a project receives Fed $$. Were there mitigation efforts? I am not born and raised here, but have worked in historic preservation. Did the store get included on the National Register of Historic Places so it can be adequately documented/recorded since it has to be razed? Just wondering...
"After 104 years, you’d think they’d treat us a little better.”
No doubt.
Marie, you are wrong, the Big I is not on the National List of Historic Places(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Registered_Historic_Places_in_Alaska). It was looked at several years ago but did not meet the criteria. It is staying becasue of the angle of the Barnette extension. Players is going because of a access lane coming off of
Terminal street to the Barnette extension.
So I guess the chronic enebriate problem isn't that bad if the city can keep an "historic" bar while loosing a truly historic building. God forbid they close another bar...
Wow! My father was the bookkeeper for Samson Hardware in the 1940's. I remember spending many days "visiting" my Dad at work there and wandering around the place exploring all the stuff. There was a large machine shop in the back with welding activities etc. On the banks of the Chena nearby and even in front of the store were always numerous float planes parked. I can almost remember what Jim Barrack looked like.
So, as always happens time and progress claims another landmark. I keep looking at Arctic Cam and the view of the Immaculate Conception Church. I attended grade school in the basement of that church grades 1 through 5. Then on to Monroe for 6 to 8.
Maybe the Big I and new bridge/road will be a drive thru drug. I didn't realize, with the economy in the condition it's in, that the State has so much money to blow. Fairbanks can't take care of all the roads it has now! The State whines and cries during the second plowing of roads in Fairbanks. Why aren't the people getting to vote on this stuff? What about Grandfather rights? What's next? Judge Wood should get out of our State by Jan 15!!!
Eminent Domain: the shame of this country. I honestly must have been naive to think it would not happen here. Fairbanks is now just one step closer to Generica: Anytown, USA.
I would like to know what "top-level state officials" decided this. Maybe we could start a massive write in campaign...especially if these officials are elected.
Any chance we can get this changed via massive publicity campaign? Would have loved it if the staff writer had given some details as to WHO exactly decided this nonsense. Do they have local businesses we can choose not to patronize? Are they anyone we can decide not to vote for?
And right before Christmas...doesn't that just smack of government nonsense and corporate greed?
I am disgusted.
Seriously, something needs to be done about the intersection of North Cushman and the road between the Borough Building and the little Catholic church. No street light, impossible to maneuver. Maybe a lot of the rest of the project is overkill, but that intersection really needs something. Sure hope that intersection is part of the plan...
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It is really sad to see such a landmark removed. We are such a young state that we need to preserve the heritage that we have. Sampsons has always been a staple of the Fairbanks community. What ever happened with the bridge they were suppose to build connecting to Cowles to the North side of the river? Do that and leave Sampsons alone.
"Eminent Domain: the shame of this country. I honestly must have been naive to think it would not happen here. Fairbanks is now just one step closer to Generica: Anytown, USA."
Yes it is a shame. Eminent domain is capitalism eating itself in order to keep on expanding, always expanding in order to outrun the death of itself. I will sorely miss Sampsons. Fairbanks's past is rapidly becoming just pages in a book and anytown USA is what we have to look forward to. Where the houses are all the same color and the big chain stores glitter at Christmas time. This is the future of unbridled capitalism. Must not regulate capitalism.. Developers must make money.. Bring on the box stores! GAG GAG!
Let's use eminent domain for something useful - like tearing down the numerous unused buildings that litter out town. Tear them down and make a green space. Before Kmart and Sears came, that area was a nice neighborhood. Now it's just unused boxed stores and Sears which always looks like its just hanging on...
I don't mind the new Fanchorage area, at least it didn't disrupt any neighborhoods.
The reason Samson's didn't get on the historical landmark listing is because it was rebuilt with concrete block after it originally burned down. That is ALL that it took to prevent it from being saved.
It is a true shame to see this great store being temporarily shut down / moved. I know the Jackovich family and have worked with them concerning this issue. I like to shop there as they are the only place in town that carries parts & tools that I use on a day to day basis.
Well, I wouldn't have cried a tear to see the Big I go. This is really backwards! That judge should have given them more time to move too. Not good.
What's next? Knock down Pikes Landing and put in an express exit to the airport?
fbxrdnk, thanks for the info.
I was sad to see the North Pole Trading Post go. I grew up across the railroad track behind Vics bar. You could buy a piece of gum for a penny.
I enjoyed hearing about your memories of Sampsons, Cooperd.
It's heartbreaking to see places torn down that hold so much meaning.
All that is against should write the Govenor and your Representives ASAP to stop it. It doesn't make sense one building can stay and not the other. What makes sense and when Judge Wood comes up for retention vote him out.
One word: lame.
Gotta keep the Big I open so our spiffy new bridge will be assured a steady supply of drunk drivers.
Makes sense. The hardworking miners and such who patronize Samson's get run off, while the downtown drunks and drug abusers (indistinguishable from the local political establishment and chamber of commerce) get to keep their powdering hole.
What a town we all live in.
I do think the loss of Sampson's is sad and I wish there was a different way they could do it. I also think another roundabout is the last thing this area needs. But anyone who thinks traffic in the downtown area is not a problem hasn't driven down there at rush hour. I headed into downtown via Illinois street one day around 5:00 recently, and traffic was backed up from College Road to Phillips Field Road. And I worked on the outskirts of downtown up to a year or so ago and experienced similar problems then. So something needs to be done, it's just sad that that something is not being done in a way that's respectful to the history of the area.
I didnt hear this much outrage when they evicted all those people on the other side of the river.
The BIG I is a historical landmark? Sampson's is NOT a historic landmark? Wait a minute, wasn't Sampson's Hardware there before the BIG I?
What's wrong with the bridge now?
The building itself is not worth much, the land is...I liked shopping there because they new about what they sold...Try that at the box stores.....
At rush hour in the AM and PM, traffic is congested at most major through fares. 3rd and Steese at rush hour stretches over to Minnie St. You can't drive by Fred Meyers Walmart area, it's too congested. There have been at least 4 accidents at Trainer Gate and Steese.
City planning might suggest various bsinesses open close at different times to ease traffic.
Save Sampsons Hardware at all costs, move the bridge, don't build the bridge or figure something out. What else do we have left of our beloved cities history? Sampsons Hardware is a essential need for many Alaskans in and around Fairbanks. Sampsons fills orders from people who live in the bush or remote areas. These people count on Sampson to have the unique products that no one else does. Sampsons provides people with the tools that our unique culture requires. Why would a city who makes so much money on tourism get rid of a historic business. Sampson has provided for Fairbanks what so many box stores haven't; they have been working with us for 103 years now. Isn't it about time for Fairbanks to repay them for their consistent and far above quality service. Just look in the store. There's tools, boots, and a light bulb older than I am. The flood line from the '67 flood can still be seen in the some places of the stock room if I'm not mistaken. They've been there for us and with us through thick and thin. Go in the store and see for yourself. Where will they move? I pray that they can move to where they want to and not be placed by some number pushing city planner. What will the people who work there do? What will little Ann do? If you ever get the chance to go to Sampsons and need anything, she's the lady for you. She knows just about everything about everything and if she doesn't know she'll find out and get the job done for you. It is obvious she loves her job and has loved serving her community through Sampsons for over ten years. If you ever wanted to know what was going on in the town you can just go to Sampsons and find out as so many contracters shop their. Sampson Hardware is a staple and hub of our unique community and culture. Lets show them how much we appriciate them. If we can't save them, lets go and tell them how much we will dearly miss them
Where is Samsons Hardware anyway? And where's this new bar called the Big Eye?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I also believe you won't find Made in China in Sampson's Hardware either.
The city planners might design a new bridge and constrct a historical structure resembling and using some Sampson Hardware historical relics. If I was designing the bridge, I'd make it a covered bridge and use some of the coal bunker treated lumber and vitalize that part of history also.
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Yet another part of our history fades away. Samsons, North Pole Trading Post, Coal Bunkers, etc. The Fairbanks I remember is going fast. Is it progress? I could always count on those places to fill my needs. They always had that obscure part. I remember needing a fuse one winter night when I had no power and it was 50 below. North Pole Trading post had the only one in the Interior for my 100 year old cabin. Box stores just don't involk community.
They moved the old Tice Center from Airport Rd to were Garden Island is today, I demand that they move Sampsons to an area between Home Depot and Lowes.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I also believe you won't find Made in China in Sampson's Hardware either."
Oh, you will find "made in China just about everywhere, including Sampsons. To its credit, you will actually find quite a bit of things there that are miraculously made in USA at Sampsons. Much harder to do that at Home Depot.
This is a true shame, Sampson has all the things one needs to live the lifestyle of dry cabins and bush living, trust me I tried looking at the box stores and they don't have crap! they sell the same stuff here they sell in the rest of the states, We need Sampsons to stay open so we can get the odds and ends to live the simple life most of us enjoy. and as far as being conveniently located, I love it, what shame to move it.
THANK GOD THEY ARE NOT GOING TO MESS WITH THE BIG I !
Too bad you people are so attached to a store. I guess it is memories, I don't blame you, but it is just a store. It exists to provide a service or supplies. If someone can do it cheaper or better then let-em-at-it. Consumers drive the market, not memories. Samson should go down with respect and dignity in tact, not on life support. If people cared as much about important issues of our community, like helping single moms, the elderly, orphans, and widows, we would be a part of a community that could never be classified as "Fanchorage" or "Las Fairbanks." Just my opinion.
Hopefully this project won't take as long as opening up a few blocks of Cushman to two way traffic - how long is that lane going to sit unused? I thought the firefighters needed it opened up for two way traffic urgently - guess not.
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I have many fond memories from the Big I, but a bar is a bar. After they eliminated most of Two Street bars, everyone just migrated to others because there are so many. Samson's filled a need of Old Fairbanks. I guess New Fairbanks is just another city on the map.
Gr8t_White_Hunter, it's not that we are all attached to this store, and I believe we all know how economics work, it's just that this store has all the odds and ends that other stores choose not to carry.
"this store has all the odds and ends that other stores choose not to carry."
The box stores will never carry everything, only the things that move fast off the shelves and are profitable. Just try building a house with materials bought only at home Depot. It can't be done. Logic would say that Home Depot gives small stores a chance to stay in business by giving them the business of stocking and selling all the rare and unusual things that they refuse to stock. In reality Home Depot volume sells the profitable items in bulk for much less then the smaller stores ever could and thus take away their profit. Small stores stock the hard to find stuff without that much profit just to keep customers coming back but take away their moneymakers like Home depot does and they dry up and blow away. Get used to it, Anytown AK USA 99701 is here to stay!
The Big I is very historical,I mean, they're still on the Gold Standard there,aren't they? They must be.
good one mackie1, hope everyone gets that without explanation.
It's a sad day for me. I am just glad that my grandfather is not around to see this happen. I remember my grandfathers last trip to Samson's Hardware on there 100th Birthday, Just before he passed on.
Thank goodness that the people who run Fairbanks don't run the entire Nation. Anything that had to do with history would be torn down. Some of us have family members that helped build this town. My father, uncle and grandfather were carpenters. My grandfather moved to north pole in the late 40's. They did a lot of building until the 80's. The only reason Fairbanks keeps tearing stuff down is so that they have an excuse to spend more money. My father was one of the men who put the striped pole up in north pole. Where did that go? Sampsons was the place to get what you needed to get the job done. The State and Fairbanks efforts to phase out all history in Fairbanks is almost complete. Well, I guess we can go to "Alaskaland" oops, I mean "Pioneer Park" (sounds sooo corny) and see some stuff, but, I'm sure a time will come where that will no longer have meaning either. They might demolish that also to put in a super parking garage. I would like to say Thank You to the owners for sticking it out through thick and thin with all the customers. I am sorry and embarrassed that the State and Fairbanks is treating their business like it's a bug that should be squashed at once. SHAME ON ALASKA!! SHAME ON YOU JUDGE WOOD!!
is this all a done deal? is there anything we can do to try and stop it? shouldn't this have been news long before it was too late?
So sorry to see Samson's go. We spent 15 years living downtown and surely shopped there plenty. Good luck to the Jacovich's.
We all know why the BigI isn't being torn down. A certain prominent citizen made that very clear last Saturday. I made my statements in regards to my feelings about the direction that the town that I love is going in the thread regarding Target coming to town, but this is even worse. If all of what was once Fairbanks is torn down, then this is no longer the town known as the "Last Frontier". I guess whe should start giving the Assembly ideas for our new town motto. Perhaps "Change to suit the lower 48, Yes We Can"
Hope they can find a new store location. I haven't been here as long as some, but I know where I end up if it's a hard to find part I'm seeking. Good luck to them.
I like the idea of taking a page from the tree sitters when the bulldozers show up.
"is this all a done deal? is there anything we can do to try and stop it? shouldn't this have been news long before it was too late?"
We can do like those "treehuggers" do and chain our bodies to the building!
Does anyone else question the timeline in this story?
Why would Sampsons have to be out of the building in the middle of January?
Certainly, there will be no demolitioning done in the coldest part of winter. Why would they not be able to carry on business until at least Summer?
And if the project is not slated to start for 2 to 3 years, why have them out right now?
Sounds like your typical non-thinking government at work. No real thought process involved here folks.
But, I guess the Jackovich's should be happy that they got anything for their property at all when you consider that the government could have just taken it through "eminent domain" for the good of the community.
THIS IS HOW OUR GOVERNMENT WORKS NOW FOLKS!
Maybe some of the OBAMA WORSHIPPERS should contact him to save Sampsons.....:)good luck
www.infowars.com
Seriously, it is sad to see Sampsons having to move. I delivered freight to that place for years in the 80's. I hope that they will find a another place close by and have another 104 years success.
I really think someone should bitch and complain to someone higher who could maybe do something about this.
Talking to Judge Wood wouldn't help. He would bulldoze his own church down for a buck!
Nice job Back_to_Alaska! That does sound strange. The timeline doesn't make any sense. Maybe someone in here can answer some of those questions for all of us.
I will be sad to see Samson's go too. But guess what, they will probably reopen again. I get a little tired of all the whackjobs in town crying every time a piece of "Old Fairbanks" goes away. Take a photo, watch it get torn down, and GET OVER IT. Illinois is a very busy road, with a brain dead traffic pattern to get across the river. I think Corinne and some of her friends should chain themselves naked to the front of the store when the excavators start to work....
On rare occasions (but it does happen!) flooding the mayor and other people with power with the same request (save sampson) gets them to reconsider or at leasts let them know people are pissed.
Try writing or calling to:
Jim Whitaker, Borough Mayor
(907) 459-1300
(907)459-1102 (fax)
mayor@co.fairbanks.ak.us
Or contact Kathryn Dodge at 459-1309 who is head of the Economic Division.
Fairbanks has changed so much! I am 33 now - and have moved away and back a few times in the last 20 years - it makes me sad each time I return to see how much different it is. Fairbanks when I was a teenager was awesome! There was plenty to do, and it held a really good old town feeling you just can't find anywhere these days. I loved downtown - Woolworths, The Co-Op Plaza - that store they had that was full of toys, Nordstroms, Maria's Arcades, Foodland, Alaskaland, The Center,..... it's all different now. And if you ask me - it was way better back then. I love this hardware store - my very first art business which I had in the Co-Op Bldg for a short time was pieced together by this hardware store - the people there gave me such good advice, sold me products for prices I could afford, and taught me so much about using tools. If I need anything from a hardware store now - I take the bus downtown to go there. Local businesses are the lost art these days... and it is sad. I never would imagine that Fairbanks Alaska of all places would lose it's warm, toasty, small town feeling.... but it is. Truthfully - I am still totally confused how Alaskaland became Pioneer Park..... why?
I would kill for a sandwich from Woolworths right now.... my dad took us there all the time until they closed,....and Maria - who gave all of us wild kids a place to hang out and stay out of cold & trouble... she rocked!!! My how this little town has changed so fast! We should protest!.. there are plenty of ways to get in and out of downtown... this is a tiny town - just be patient when you gotta drive through it, you will get there!
Wonder where all you folks were when they tore down all of the buildings on 1st Ave, oh yeah those were bars so it was okay. This plan has been on the books since the early 80's that I personally know of and has always included the tearing down of Sampsons. Not sure why everyone is so down on the Big I, it was a patron of the bar not the bar itself. Bet some of you folks are the ones who tried to get a stop order when they went to raze Irene's shack. Hate to see Sampsons go, been shopping there for 33 years. Hope they find a new location.
If any building in Fairbanks deserves to be considered a historic landmark, it is Samson's Hardware. I don't understand why the fact that it burned and rebuilt with concrete block would disqualify it. How long ago was it rebuilt? The existing building should be old enough to be considered a historic landmark.
40 years ago the new highway was needed because that was the center of small town.
Today, the need is no longer there!
The money would be better spent on an overpass at Airport and Steese! Where there is more traffic in 1 hour than there is in downtown Faribanks all day!
Sampson's is the only place that sells hardware that is needed by Alaskans. Low's and Home Depot don't carry what you need! Often "seconds" and /or junk made in China.
It is a shame to see it close! A newly constructed store and debt service on a loan would mostly likely make them go under.
Wounder if this is a Steven's "earmark"?
As matter of interest the light bulb shown in the top picture has lasted since probably 1910.
Made in America! Quality.
I fully respect people's opinions and am glad that Fairbanks people value the mom and pop stores and historic landmarks of our community. That being said, Corrine, if you value Fairbanks history so much, and really are so knowledgable about DOT engineers that you can universally attack them with one blanket ignorant generalization, I wish you'd at least know WHERE the Johansen Expressway actually was (hint: it does not run north/south!) and how to actually spell it. And that it was named after a "crap..cubicle inhabitating" DOT engineer.
If anyone is curious as to the proposed plan, you can see it here:
http://www.dot.state.ak.us/stwdplng/proj...
The Daily News Miner better start looking for a new building. Samson's isn't that far from their front door.
I wounder if Sarah can divert the money to something far better such as overpass at Steese and Airport?
Sarvissa, I don't think Woody Johansen ever had a cubicle, eh?
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Clearly Mark Wood has no business sitting in judgement on anything. The buildings are not to be demolished until spring, yet they have to move out by December 15th? That decision does not have anything to do with being just...
That Vision Fairbanks thing seemed to have a focus of creating a vital downtown. Making it into a destination. The Downtown Association, the self-appointed Promoter, Preserver, and Revitalizer of downtown Fairbanks jumped right into the boat piloted by some guys from Oregon, and along with the FNSB Planning Department they said "let's go"! This gave gravity to moving AKDOT's plan forward (and by the way these AKDOT employees are decent people doing the best they can within the framework that is set up for them).
CrandallArambula beached their plan on a gravel bar when they apparently would not give serious consideration to the value of retaining something of such significant historic value. They certainly did not appear to spend a moment discussing alternatives for siting the bridge.
No one seemed to notice, or care to much. Now the plan is in place. The judgement reeks. The property is more valuable than the compensation being provided. Making Samsons clear out months before anything will actually happen is a knife to the heart. Attempted murder of a longstanding local business - if not the real thing...
Take solace folks, we get to keep the Black Eye.