Anchorage 1910 - 1940 Legends & Legacies

Hill, Harry J.

1905-1973 | Chairman of the Lathrop Company, and Real Estate Developer

Harry J. Hill was born in Wainfleet, England, on April 30, 1905. After the death of his father in Johannesburg, South Africa, his widowed mother, Sylvia Hill, returned to England and placed her only son, Harry Hill, in a private school. She then decided to set out for a new life in Alaska in 1915. She met and married Paul Ringstad in Anchorage and sent for young Hill, and they moved to Fairbanks, Alaska. Harry Hill, who was fourteen at the time, was ten years older than the eldest of his three half-brothers, Elmer, Kenneth, and Mark Ringstad.[1]

Hill began working for Austin E. “Cap” Lathrop, an association which lasted for twenty-seven years. In 1924, became the timekeeper at the Suntrana Coal Mine in Healy, Alaska, traveling between the mine and its office in Anchorage.[2]

In 1928, Harry Hill met and married Elsie Edmiston, a young school teacher who was employed at the Healy School in Suntrana. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland on August 24, 1907, to James Edmiston and Mary Kennedy Edmiston. In 1910, her family immigrated to Canada and, in 1915, moved to Douglas, Alaska. She attended school in Treadwell and then Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and then was hired as a teacher in Eska. After her marriage to Hill, she moved to the Suntrana Coal Mine in Healy. Their son, Donald, was born on July 5, 1929, in Fairbanks, Alaska.[3] 

In 1934, Hill moved to Anchorage after Austin E. “Cap” Lathrop gave him additional responsibilities as his “right-hand man” in Anchorage, including managing the Empress Theatre and the 4th Avenue Building. Hill left the Lathrop organization in 1944 to form a partnership with Oscar Anderson to manage the Evan Jones Coal Mine in the Matanuska Valley. The operation was one of the two major coal producers in the valley, and it sold most of its coal to military installations near Anchorage.[4]

After Austin E. "Cap" Lathrop's death in 1950, Hill sold his interest in the Evan Jones Mine and rejoined the Lathrop organization. As one of the executors of Lathrop's will, Hill became involved with operations of the Lathrop Company. The Lathrop holdings in 1950 included five movie theaters, two radio stations, and two television stations in Anchorage and Fairbanks. The television and radio stations in Fairbanks operated under the call letters of KFAR, and the Anchorage stations operated under the KENI call letters. Shortly after Hill took over chairmanship of the Lathrop Company, a group of employees headed by Alvin Bramstedt purchased the television and radio stations.[5]

In the 1960s the Lathrop Company became involved in the construction of several major building projects in Anchorage. The firm constructed the RCA building in 1960. In 1962 it built the largest privately owned building in the Anchorage, the Hill Building, at the corner of 6th Avenue and G Street. Originally constructed to house the regional offices of the Federal Aviation Administration, it eventually became Anchorage's City Hall. The same year, the company built the Alaska Mutual Savings Bank building at the corner of 5th Avenue and F Street. In 1963, it acquired the Cordova Building at 6th and Cordova. Throughout the 1960s, the firm continued to build theaters in Anchorage and Fairbanks. In 1969, a national firm based in Florida, Wometco Enterprises, Inc., merged the Lathrop Company into their own, and Harry Hill became chairman of the board of Wometco Enterprises.[6]

Hill further served the Anchorage community when he was elected to the Anchorage City Council in the general election held on April 4, 1939.[7] In a hotly contested election, Mayor H.E. Brown defeated Harvey J. Smith, described by the Anchorage Daily Times as the “so-called labor candidate,” by a vote of 850 to 272. Smith was part of a slate of labor union candidates for mayor and three seats on the Anchorage City Council that were defeated when 1,145 persons cast ballots, the largest number to vote in the city’s history. Hill was one of three councilman elected to a two-year term, and received 735 votes.   Prior to the election, he had been appointed to the Anchorage City Council to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of Frank Morrison, who had moved to the Lower 48 states.[8] In addition, Hill also served as the honorary British Consul, and as a member of the City of Anchorage’s Power Commission.[9]

In 1930, Hill became a naturalized U.S. citizen after his petition for naturalization was approved by the U.S. District Court at Anchorage.[10] In 1949, his wife, Elsie Edmiston Hill, also was naturalized as a U.S. citizen.[11]

In 1935, Hill purchased property located at 935 Third Avenue and had a home built as his residence. Since no local architect was available, he bought plans for a “Tom Thumb House” for $5 from Better Homes and Gardens. He hired Herman Johnson, an Anchorage contractor, to build the one-and-one half story frame structure, with wood siding, a steep gable roof with two arched dormers, and an interior black chimney. In 1956, his son, Don Hill, added a small, flat-roof addition to the east and used it as a family room.  In the late 1950s, the Hill family sold the house to Walter Hickel. After serving as U.S. Secretary of the Interior, 1969-1970, Governor Hickel returned to Anchorage and planned to use the residence as his office. As of 1986, it was still owned by the Hickel Investment Company.[12]

Elsie Edmiston Hill was active in organizations and clubs in Anchorage. She was a member of the Pioneers of Alaska, Igloo 15, Auxiliary 4. Among her hobbies were reading, gardening, and travel. She was noted for her colorful garden at her home above the 4^th Avenue Theatre.[13]

Harry J. Hill died on January 18, 1973. Elsie Hill continued to live in Anchorage. She died on February 17, 2005, during a brief recovery from hip surgery. The couple was buried at Angeles Memorial Park Cemetery in Anchorage. They were survived by a son, Donald, of Anchorage; and three grandchildren.[14] The Municipality of Anchorage’s Hill Building was named in honor of Harry J. Hill.[15]

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Harry J. Hill (1905-1973) and Elsie Edmiston Hill (1907-2005).

Courtesy of the Hill family.

Top to bottom: Donald Hill, Harry Hill, Sylvia Ringstad (Harry's mother), and her granddaughter.

Courtesy of the Hill family.

Donald "Don" and Harry Hill in front of the Hill Building, 6th Avenue and G Street, Anchorage, during construction, ca. 1961.

Courtesy of the Hill family.

Elsie and Harry Hill, ca. 1970.

Courtesy of the Hill family.

The Hill family home at 3rd Avenue and K Street, Anchorage.

Courtesy of the Hill family.

Donald Hill (1929-1992).

Courtesy of the Hill family.

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