HomeMy WebLinkAbout02262021 Historic Preservation Work Session Laydown - Benoit 210226 H PC WS
Laydown - Benoit
Malloy House
If Walls Could Talk
This house was built before 1928 on a hill above Second Avenue. Avalanches buried some of its
neighbors, so it was moved! Bessie M. Malloy bought this property in 1927 for$250, and moved the
house here around 1928.
It has seen a lot, including the influx of more than 3,200 soldiers in Seward during World War II.
The most excitement was during the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake. The Anderson family had to run for
their lives, leaving the front door wide open as the Standard Oil tanks a block away exploded and the
earth shook.
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RBHS 2016.021.0001.65—Standard Oil tanks on fire seen in this view from 317 Sixth Ave.The Malloy House on
the right. Photo by Bernie Hulm. Resurrection Bay Historical Society.
Owner Susie Anderson White was 9 years old when she wrote; "All of a sudden everything broke loose
and we were shaking real bad. I started to scream and my sister Sharon told me I didn't stop screaming.
We saw a huge explosion. It was the Standard Oil tanks going up in flames. When we went past the boat
harbor, we could see boats being lifted up by the tidal wave." Her father, Val Anderson wrote: "We
spent the night listening to the Standard Oil tanks exploding,the tidal waves coming in and watching the
great red glare of the fire lighting the skies and mountain sides. We didn't think there was a chance in
the world our house could survive."
But it did!
"Probably nowhere in south central Alaska on March 27, 1964,were there more hairbreadth escapes
than among the 2,300 inhabitants of the seaport town of Seward...". (NRC, 1970).
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Susie Anderson's 1964 drawing of the earthquake. Seward Community Library and Museum.
Today Seward depends more on tourism and this house offers nightly lodging to travelers. It hears their
stories and now they hear its story.