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| Joe Spenard and his "City Express" taxi in a parade. |
In 1916, Joseph A. Spenard (1879–1934) brought the first automobile to what would become Anchorage to serve as the "City Express" taxi service.
Spenard then started a logging camp located around modern-day Fireweed Lane that would supply the wood used to turn "Tent City" into Anchorage. He also built a road from Anchorage to the logging camp, which became "Spenard Road", and the logging camp became the "Town of Spenard".
In future years the road was extended south to "Lake Spenard" where Spenard had built a lakeside resort and dance Pavillion. The lakeside resort was quite the party place for Anchorage and the dance hall/resort burned down several times. Today that area is occupied by a large hotel named "The Lakefront".
In 1975, the town of Spenard (population over 18,000) was merged with several nearby towns into the Municipality of Anchorage. The Spenard neighborhood of Anchorage was infamous as a "red-light district" during the oil pipeline boom and continues to maintain some of its historic character. Also in the 1970s, the Anchorage Airport dredged the land between Lake Spenard and Lake Hood to create the largest and busiest floatplane base in the world.
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| Lake Spenard waterfront. |
Please enjoy the view of the lake and the float/ski aircraft for a few minutes while in the area. The cache you are looking for is "medium" (i.e. a large-small or a small-regular) with room for some swag and travelers. Have fun!