Editing Palmer, Alaska (section)

==History==
{{Further|Matanuska Valley Colony}}
[[File:Alaska - Palmer through Paxson Lake - NARA - 23942233.jpg|thumb|right|Palmer in the 1940s]]
[[File:Alaska - Palmer through Paxson Lake - NARA - 23942239.jpg|thumb|right|Palmer, 1940s]]
[[File:Alaska - Palmer through Paxson Lake - NARA - 23942241.jpg|thumb|right|Palmer, 1940s]]
The city was named after George Palmer, a trader.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=27984|title=Profile for Palmer, Alaska, AK|publisher=ePodunk|access-date=July 28, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130203061553/http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=27984 | archive-date=February 3, 2013}}</ref>

In the late 19th century, the U.S. government began to take interest in the Matanuska coal fields located north of Palmer. This interest sparked financiers to consider constructing the [[Alaska Railroad|Alaska Central Railroad]] in 1904. The advent of [[World War I]] created a need for high-quality coal to fuel U.S. battleships, and by 1917 the US Navy had constructed rail from the port of Seward to the Chickaloon coal deposits. At the end of World War I, the U.S. Navy distributed land in the coal fields to war veterans and additional land was opened to homesteading. Farmers, miners and homesteaders began to populate the area. The Palmer Post Office was opened July 6, 1917, under the name of '''Warton'''.  With railroad accessibility, new markets for agriculture began to open up for farmers in the [[Matanuska-Susitna Valley|Matanuska Valley]].

In one year, Palmer transformed from a mere whistle stop rail siding to a planned community with modern utilities and community services.  Eleven million dollars from [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]] was spent to create the town of Palmer and relocate 203 families from the hard hit [[Iron Range]] region of [[Michigan]], [[Minnesota]] and [[Wisconsin]]. Families traveled by train and ship to Palmer, arriving in May 1935. Upon their arrival they were housed in a city tent during their first Alaskan summer. Each family drew lots for {{convert|40|acre|m2|adj=on}} tracts and their farming adventure began in earnest. The failure rate was high, but many of their descendants still live in the area and there are still many operating farms in the Palmer area, including the Vanderwheele and Wolverine farms. In 1971, the [[National Outdoor Leadership School]] started operating wilderness education courses in the nearby Talkeetna and Chugach mountain ranges from a local historic farmhouse, the [[Berry House (Palmer, Alaska)|Berry House]], which is currently [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska|listed]] on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<!--Except that the farmhouse is actually about two miles north of city limits, in what appears to be the adjacent Farm Loop CDP.  This article is supposed to be about the city of Palmer;  Farm Loop has its own article.-->

In addition to an agrarian heritage, the colony families brought with them Midwest America's small-town values, institutional structures, and a well-planned city center reminiscent of their old hometowns in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Many of the structures built are now in a nationally recognized historic district. Construction of the statewide road system and the rapid development of Anchorage has fueled growth around Palmer. Many Palmer residents commute 45 minutes to work in Anchorage.