This lot is the site of the old Government Hill Grade School that was destroyed in the 1964 earthquake. The area is now the Municipality of Anchorage's Sunset View Park. A steel-framed Butler building (figure 126, No. 5 in McCulloch and Bonilla 1970) used for on-track equipment storage in The Alaska Railroad yards was overrun by the earth flow that occurred at the toe of the Government Hill slide. Some yard equipment and rolling stock were destroyed or damaged as the flowing earth covered about 850' of track. This is the Government Hill slide described by Hansen (1965). The association of the park land with the 1964 earthquake is largely commemorative. There are no plaques or monuments present to describe the events that took place at the site. Other locations in Anchorage such as Earthquake Park in the Turnagain Heights area along Northern Lights Boulevard have interpretive displays and retain much of their post-earthquake character in the jumbled blocks of land throughout the area. Because the association is largely commemorative, and because there are other, better examples of earthquake damage, the Sunset Park lands are deemed not eligible for the National Register.; Sunset Park is a visible reminder of the forces of the 1964 earthquake. The multi-million dollar school that once stood on what is now park lands was sheared in half by the earthquake, and later hauled away as trash. The undulating terrain of the park is the smoothed over remains of the open cracks in the earth, the grabens and blocks that moved vertically and horizontally in the quake. The park land is significant for its association with the 1964 earthquake, and the subsequent rebuilding of Anchorage's damaged houses, schools, stores, and industry such as the railrad. The park site is associated with education in Alaska, as the site of the first Government Hill Grade School. Although these associations arise because of the earthquake that took place less than 50 years ago, the magnitude of the earthquake made it a significant event.

Lot size is 237,200 sq. ft.; The lot where the old Government Hill School stood was originally a 4.48 acre site between Vine and Sunshine Streets. It was acquired in 1950 under lease from the Department of the Interior, through The Alaska Railroad. A patent for that land was acquired in 1953 by the Anchorage Independent School District. In 1956, a three block parcel was also acquired across the street from the school, and replatted. That parcel was quit claimed to the Alaska Housing Corp. in 1960. Occupancy as a school ended in 1964 because of damage from the 1964 earthquake. The building was used for a time as a storage facility. In 1969, the property was reverted back to the Borough. In 1974, the Borough disposed of the property under MO 74-190. The above information came from Mr. Fred Johnson, Anchorage School District. Mr. Johnson had no record of who the Borough disposed the property to. During the school's operation, a pedestrian overpass across East Loop Road immediately west of the school provided safe passage for children coming from west Government Hill to cross Loop Road to school. After the 1964 earthquake, the damaged overpass was torn down. All that physically remains of the overpass is a set of concrete steps, and some metal cable debris, partly hidden in the underbrush along the east side of East Loop Road. Photographs of the period clearly show the overpass. After the 1964 earthquake, the old school was too damaged to use, except for storage. The western portion of the structure remained on site, at least until 1973. It appears in aerial photographs taken July 17, 1974, surrounded by fencing. Sunset Park was dedicated as a park by MOA Ordinance AO 90-71 (S) on October 9, 1990. It currently has playground equipment, a picnic area, covered picinic table shelter, a sledding hill, and access to the Government Hill Greenbelt. The open areas and sledding hill were formed out of the remnants from the Government Hill slide during the 1964 Earthquake. According to the U.S. Geological Survey description and analysis of the 1964 earthquake on Government Hill, the slide measured 1,180' in length at its toe, where it spread over tracks and buildings in the Alaska Railroad Yard below the bluff. Some 900,000 cubic yards of material were involved over an area of 11 acres. A complex of arcuate horsts (elongated blocks bounded by parallel normal faults in such a way that it stands above blocks onb both sides) and grabens (elongated, trenchlike, structural forms bounded by parallel faults, created when the block that forms the trench floor moves downward relative to blocks that form sides) formed as the slide pulled away from the bluff. Some grabens were 12' deep. Photos show the old Government Hill Elementary School wreckage. One house in the vicinity moved some 35' to the southwestward, but was relatively undamaged. Other houses along Sunset Avenue were damaged beyond repair. After the earthquake, the graben blocks were leveled and contoured, creating the modern landscape of Sunset park.

Stephen R. Braund & Associates

2006