Warren G. Harding Rail Car
President Warren G. Harding, the
first chief executive to visit the territory, came to Fairbanks to celebrate the
completion of the Alaska Railroad.
Although Harding was dead within two weeks, his reputation
marred by scandal, that day Fairbanks was excited by what the Daily News-Miner called
"the Glory of the Coming.''
He spoke first to a crowd at Week's Field on
July 23, 1923. Among other things he said, ``I wonder
if you know what has most impressed us on our ... trip to Alaska. You have a sample of it
here in Fairbanks....While Alaska is majestic and boundless and mighty.....it is also
strikingly a home land, and that is the finest thing that may be said of any section of
any nation in the world.''
That same afternoon, Harding spoke again at the Masonic Temple on First Avenue, and allegedly ate dinner
at the R.C. Wood home down the street.
In 1923, the fledgling Alaska Railroad brought President Warren G. Harding to
the Tanana River town of Nenana. The rail car
that President Harding rode in has been restored and can be seen and toured at
Alaskaland.