Boss Bakery/Trail Center

Check out some very early gold rush-era construction in Skagway at the former Brackett Trading Post

NPS Photo/A. Rogers

Quick Facts

Location:

Skagway, AK

Significance:

Built in December 1897, this building has held a trading post, a bakery, a grocery, a café, a mess hall, and a museum! In the modern-day, it serves as Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park’s Trail Center.

Designation:

NHP and part of an NHL

Amenities

9 listed

Accessible Rooms, Fire Extinguisher, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Information - Maps Available, Information - Ranger/Staff Member Present, Junior Ranger Booklet Available, Trash/Litter Receptacles, Water - Bottle-Filling Station, Wheelchair Accessible

This one-story building began its history at the beginning of the Klondike Gold Rush as the Brackett Trading Post. Proprietor James Brackett built a successful business here, eventually expanding to the point that he needed to move to a larger building.  

Brackett sold the building to Stephen Baur, the "Boss Baker", who opened a restaurant specializing in freshly baked goods just in time to catch the peak of the Klondike stampede. An 1898 newspaper advertisement read, "For everything first class in the line of bread, cakes, pastries, call on the Boss Baker." 

The Boss Bakery building currently serves as the park’s Trail Center. Each summer, folks stop by before hiking the Chilkoot Trail to pick up permits, receive their pre-hike briefing, and learn about bear safety.