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Anderson was incorporated as a second class city in 1962 and named after Art Anderson, one of the original homesteaders. He came to Alaska from Washington state as a teamster building the Alaska Railroad in 1919 after he had served with General Pershing in WWI. An elementary school opened in 1961 with a high school added in 1971. They are part of the Denali Borough School District. Some residents presently work in Nenana or Healy as well as at the Air Force Station.
Currently, Anderson is best known for its popular Blue Grass and Country Music Festival, held the last weekend of July at the tourist friendly city park of 660 acres. The festival hosted by the Anderson-Clear Lions Club welcomes about 3000 people in a well secured atmosphere. On days when it chooses to show, Mt. McKinley can be seen to the south on the Nenana River at the end of First Street.
Anderson's other claim to fame is the land rush of 2007 when 26-one acre lots were made available free in a lottery. Seven lots were eventually claimed, one of them as a B&B. The free lots are no longer available.
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