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The Campbell House (1935) in Palmer, Alaska, after rehabilitation. Inset: The house before rehabilitation.
The Matanuska Colony in Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Valley was founded in 1935 under a New Deal program to give people a chance to start a new life. The colony helped two hundred families chosen by lot to settle in Alaska and obtain land for farming.
Top: The living room of the Campbell House following rehabilitation. Bottom: The repaired historic staircase.
The program encouraged the community to establish commercial agriculture. One of about a hundred such projects around the U.S., the Matanuska Colony featured administrative and commercial centers serving farms that radiated from it. In all, 200 farmhouses designed specifically for the Colony were constructed for new settlers. The Campbell House is a rare surviving frame house of 75 originally built (another 125 houses were log or partially log). The house is also significant for surviving at its original location and possessing its original floor plan and massing. The deteriorating structure was rehabilitated as a bed and breakfast.
