Historic Hotel Seward, Alaska’s premiere boutique hotel, is proud to be located in the quaint seaside town of Seward, Alaska, the gateway to Resurrection Bay and Kenai Fjords National Park. The history of our town is full of fascinating stories and we’re honored to share photos from our vast collection that is on display in the common spaces of our historic building.

FORT RAYMOND

Fort Raymond was established in 1942 to provide a garrison for Seward and the Seward harbor defenses. The post was built out with temporary wartime construction that included quonset huts and CCC type buildings to house 171 officers and 3,278 enlisted troops.

An additional Army dock was added and the city San Juan dock was rehabilitated to accommodate all the materials coming in for the construction of the harbor defenses. Fuel and Ordnance storage areas were constructed as a part of the post. The cost of the post and the harbor defenses was estimated at $6,641,495 by the engineers.

The Seward Harbor Defenses were discontinued in March 1944. The defenses were disarmed and the materials were packed up and shipped out quickly. The garrison was shipped out and the post was abandoned in 1945.

The post buildings were sold off and several were moved into the town.