Fairbanks City Hall history

In May 1933, William McDonald Construction Company of St Louis, with the low bid of $117,836, won the building contract for the new school.

Main School was opened on January 22, 1934, with 16 teachers and 318 students.

Then, in 1948, after expanding the boundaries of the School District, Main School found itself again cramped for space.

Students were distributed among the newer schools, and by 1955 Main School became Main Elementary School, housing kindergartners through eighth graders.

As early as 1972, Main School began to have serious problems: its heating bills were exorbitant; the mechanical and electrical systems were obsolete; its confusing configuration violated fire and handicapped access codes, and later asbestos was found.

As a result, in 1976 Main School closed its doors as a public school and became the home of the administrative offices of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.

In 1977, Explore Fairbanks was incorporated as the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau (FCVB) as a 501(c)(6) by a group of local business people.

On September 27, 1990, Main School was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Since its inception in 1993, the Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB) - excluding those collected in the cities of Fairbanks and North Pole - bed tax has been used to cover shortfalls in the operational expense of the Carlson Community Activity Center.

Historic City Hall continued to serve as the seat of city government until 1994, when the City Council voted to move city offices to Main School.

On September 9, 1995, a reception honoring the dedication of the Charles W. Fairbanks Sculpture and the Rededication of Historic Main School as Fairbanks City Hall was held.

On January 8, 1996, the Mayor and City Council proudly held their first meeting in the newly completed Council Chambers.

Fairbanks Youth Court moved into one of the empty offices in April of 1997.

In April 1999, the Alaska Public Lands Information Center (APLIC) and FCVB held meetings to ascertain the possibility of co-locating under one roof.

With the first planning grant, a feasibility study was released in December 2000.

Around 2001, FCVB began the maturation from a marketing-only organization to one that collaborates with industry and community partners to develop tourism infrastructure with positive benefits to the industry as well as tourism businesses.

Beginning in 2002, FNSB reinvested bed tax collections into destination marketing via Explore Fairbanks.

Since 2004, FNSB fiscal year budgets have appropriated 65 percent of a projected tax to be reinvested into the Explore Fairbanks destination marketing program.

In 2005, Explore Fairbanks won the coveted Destiny Award from the United States Travel Association (then the Travel Industry Association of America) for the initial flights from Japan.

Established in 2006, the Public Policy Advisory Committee has been at the forefront of many of these efforts.

In October 2008, FCVB moved into the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center (MTCVC) at the corner of Dunkel Street and Wendell Avenue in downtown Fairbanks.

Throughout the recession that began in 2009, hotel/motel tax collections in the October through April winter months increased.

As an advocate for the promotion of winter by the State of Alaska, Explore Fairbanks led a statewide Winter Tourism Summit in October 2013.

Explore Fairbanks initiated and worked to secure approval and funding for a Recycling Legacy Project beginning implementation in March 2014 during the Arctic Winter Games held in Fairbanks.

China Air began aurora season charter flights direct to Fairbanks from Taiwan in December 2015.

Fairbanks North Star Borough School District “2017 Partners In Education Award for Outstanding Non-Profit Partner” for providing volunteer time in support of the College and Career Fair and for volunteer leadership on the Career and Technical Education Advisory Committee.