Regional/Cultural Day
Alaska Day (Statehood)
On June 29, 1958, Congress passed the Alaska Statehood Act. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. The purchase from Russia in 1867 cost $7.2 million, which works out to about 2 cents an acre. Secretary of State William Seward was mocked for the purchase, called "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox." The largest state in the union, with more coastline than the rest of the states combined, was acquired for less than the cost of a single Manhattan office building.