United States · Alaska · Anchorage
Government Hill, Anchorage — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Government Hill is Anchorage's oldest neighbourhood, a bluff of railroad cottages north of downtown across Ship Creek.
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Where to stay in Government Hill
Where the beds are, and what that means for the visit.
Government Hill sits apart. Most visitors bed down in downtown Anchorage and walk up the bluff to see the neighbourhood, which suits travellers who want quiet residential streets near the rail yards rather than a room on the hill itself. Two anchors orient a stay.
The Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 23 and the Civil Works Residential Dwellings both survive from the railroad camp that founded the district.
Find hotels in Government Hill
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Along the Ship Creek edge
Streets drop from the Government Hill bluff toward the Ship Creek rail yards, where the Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 23 marks the old survey camp.Find hotels in Along the Ship Creek edgeGuests who prefer quiet residential lanes over a downtown hotel towerNear the historic dwellings
The Civil Works Residential Dwellings cluster on the hill's older lots, a pocket of Depression-era housing rare in Anchorage.Find hotels in Near the historic dwellingsHotel links are affiliate links: booking through them may earn us a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects how places are ranked. How this works
Things to do in and around Anchorage
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
2- Oscar Anderson House Museum Heritage
- Anchorage Museum
Churches & Religious Sites
1- All Saints Episcopal Church (Anchorage, Alaska)
Landmarks & Notable Places
5- Oscar Gill House Heritage
- Leopold David House Heritage
- Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 23 Heritage
- Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 25 Heritage
- Civil Works Residential Dwellings Heritage
worth knowingacross 3 categories in and around Anchorage
About Government Hill
What are the main landmarks in Government Hill?
The hill keeps its railroad-camp bones. Its listed buildings include the Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 23 and the Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 25, twin frame houses raised for the crews who laid the Alaska Railroad, alongside the Civil Works Residential Dwellings from a later relief programme. Down the bluff and across Ship Creek, wider Anchorage adds the Anchorage Museum, the Oscar Anderson House Museum, All Saints Episcopal Church, the Leopold David House, and the Oscar Gill House.
What is the history of Government Hill?
The railroad made this hill. When the Alaska Engineering Commission laid out its construction town in 1915, workers pitched the first tents on the bluff above Ship Creek, and Government Hill grew as Anchorage's earliest platted neighbourhood. The Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 23 and Cottage No. 25 date from that survey era, while the Civil Works Residential Dwellings arrived with a 1930s federal works programme.
It was born of the rail yards below.
Where is Government Hill?
Government Hill rises on a bluff north of downtown Anchorage, cut off from the centre by the Ship Creek valley and its rail yards below.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Government Hill?
Along the Ship Creek edge: Travellers tracing the 1915 railroad origin of Anchorage on foot. Near the historic dwellings: Guests who prefer quiet residential lanes over a downtown hotel tower.
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Updated October 2026