Anchorage is the northernmost major city in the USA.  

In 1867 the U. S. Secretary of State brokered a deal to purchase Alaska from a debt-ridden Imperial Russia for $7.2 million (about two cents an acre). In 1888 gold was discovered.

In 1912, Alaska became a United States territory. The city started to grow in 1914 with construction of the Alaska Railroad which was completed in 1923. 

Elmendorf Air Force Base & Fort Richardson were constructed in the 1940s & served as the city's primary economic engine until the 1968 Prudhoe Bay oil discovery.