The Pullen House

The last job that I had allowed me the amazing opportunity to spend four months in what I now consider to be the most beautiful state in the United States that I have been in: Alaska.  I fell in love with the mountains, the people, the history, and the culture.  One of the things I found most interesting was the past that was left behind to still be seen today.

My favorite town that I had been in was Skagway, Alaska.  Anyone who may have played the old “Yukon Trail” game is probably familiar with it.  It’s an old gold rush town that still lives to this day.  Since it is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, most things that came in, such as cars and culture, never left.  Some things however, were forced to be removed.

The Pullen House Hotel all started when Harriett Pullen decided to head to Skagway, Alaska in an effort to make a living to support her four children.  A founder of the town, Captain William Moore, hired her as a cook to help feed his crew of workers.  She became quite the inventive entrepreneur.  She would collect empty tin cans and beat them into pie pans.  Pretty soon, she had her own profitable side business selling pies to the stampeders looking for gold.

A little fun fact: During the time of the gold rush, a piece of apple pie and a cup of coffee from a tent restaurant on the trail for the gold could cost $2.50.  This was the same time where you could buy a three course meal from a fancy restaurant in a big city like San Francisco for twenty-five cents.

After Pullen made some money, she opened up a freighting business with some horses.  When the gold rush died down, she decided to open a hotel.  In 1901, she bought Captain William Moore’s house, and turned it into the Pullen House Hotel.  The hotel became one of the most luxurious hotels in existence at the time: fine china, silver, soft beds, and bathtubs.  She collected gold rush memorabilia and shared the story of the town’s past to the tourists who would arrive.

 

In 1923 President Warren G. Harding made a visit to Skagway, Alaska.  He was given a tour of the city by the still currently existing Skagway Street Car tour company, and he gave an address at the fancy Pullen House.

In 1943, fire badly damaged parts of Skagway, including the Pullen House, and in 1947, Harriett Pullen passed away.  As time went on, the Pullen House became more and more rundown, and in 1989, it was finally all demolished.  Today, all the is left of the famous and luxurious Pullen House are a few scattered bricks, and the base of a fireplace and chimney, still proudly showing the word “PULLEN” as it has for over 100 years.

For more information about Harriett Pullen and the Pullen House check out As Precious as Gold, and Skagway History.  All archival photos are courtesy of Alaska’s Digital Archives.

The Pullen House Today