Pioneers of Alaska

1934 - Andrew Nerland

Fairbanks Igloo taken by Jessen’s Weekly at Airport. Andrew Nerland, Back row, l. to r. 19th gentleman

Born in Norway in 1870, Andrew J. Nerland immigrated to the U. S. in 1889. He moved from Minneapolis, to Seattle, where he attended business college and night school, and also learned the painting and wallpapering trades.

In 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush, Andrew Nerland crossed the Chilkoot Pass to Dawson where, instead of looking for gold, he established a paint and wallpaper contracting firm with a man named Louis Anderson and Anderson’s brother. The company was called Anderson’s Brother and Nerland.

He was at Sheep Creek on the Chilkoot in 1898 when a slide killed some 70 people. Andrew helped dig out the survivors.

Within the first year, he married Annie Paulson from Seattle, and their son, Arthur Leslie, was born in 1902 in Dawson.

In 1904, the company moved to Fairbanks, where its operations became an integral part of life in the Interior Alaska. He established branches in Nenana, Iditarod, and Anchorage, which gradually shifted to the furniture business.

Andrew became a political and business leader serving in numerous positions including as a member of the city council, mayor, member of the territorial legislature, and served on the board of trustees of the Alaska Agricultural College and School Mines from 1929-1935 and on the University of Alaska Board of Regents from 1935-1956.

Nerland was so popular as a civil leader that he won as a write-in candidate for City Council, then was voted unanimously to the office of Mayor by his fellow council members. Nerland was out-of-town on business at the time, and had no idea.

In 1917 Nerland assisted Judge James Wickersham in laying the cornerstone for the college and, as a representative to the Alaska Territorial Legislature, introduced legislation for the creation of the college in Fairbanks.

In 1949, when the University of Alaska ran short of funds, Nerland was one of many people who made a $10,000 personal loan to help keep the the doors open. He was president of the board at the time.

He received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Alaska in 1952.

Nerland died in 1956 of a heart attack at his store in Fairbanks.