St. Timothy’s Church in Tanacross celebrates 100th anniversary

I spent the day at Tanacross yesterday. The people of
Tanacrosss, along with friends from all over Interior Alaska, were celebrating the
100^th anniversary of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church there. St. Timothy’s
was one of several missions established by the Episcopal Church in the Tanana
Valley to serve the Athabascan Indians.

The church we celebrated in is actually a re-creation of the
original church across the river. For a variety of reasons the community relocated
from the north bank to the south bank of the Tanana River in the early 1970s.
Once at the new location residents pitched in and built a new church patterned after the old one.

After yesterday morning’s church service, we, along with other
attendees, were given the privilege of going across the river to see the old
church. (There is no bridge across the river. We had to go by boat.)

As you can see from the photos, the old and new churches look much
alike. The old church is still in decent shape and I believe the Episcopal
Diocese is planning to preserve it.

The church’s original bible is still sitting on the altar of
the old church. The dedication page in the bible says the first service at
Tanacrosss (then called Tanana Crossing) was held September 25, 1912.

I came cross a letter from one of the first missionaries to
Tanacross. The missionary writes that they poled a loaded boat up the Tanana River, leaving McCarty Station
(now Big Delta State Historical Park) on September 8^th, and arriving
at Tanacross on September 25^th. They held the community’s first
service that same day.