The Seward City Council passed a resolution in July to demolish the Jesse Lee Home for Children. The building was seen by the council as a hazard, and the City of Seward had already secured a state grant of over $1 million to turn the land into a commercially-viable property. That effort was temporarily halted after a restraining order was placed against the city earlier this month.
Judge Lance Joanis ruled this week that the restraining order against the city be replaced by a preliminary injunction if the non-profit Friends of Jesse Lee Home post an additional security bond of over $500,000 by September 30. Joanis stated: “Half the grant amount is, essentially, a middle ground that will protect the City from significant loss, but it still exposes the City to excessive loss if the worst case scenario were to occur and the City were wrongly enjoined.”
Dorene Lorenz, Chairman of the Board, Friends of Jesse Lee Home spoke to Your Alaska Link about the importance of the Jesse Lee Home’s legacy: “The people who were residents of the Jesse Lee home went on to be leaders in Alaska. They started the 13th Regional Corporation, they started the University system here. They became leaders in their community, and I think that it’s very important that we honor this tradition here at the Jesse Lee Home because the State of Alaska and our future generations deserve that.”
She added: “Unfortunately, the City of Seward has asked the Legislature to take that money and give it to them to demolish the building, which puts the Legislature and the Governor in conflict, because you don’t really want to go against a municipality and what they want, but at the same time, this building is bigger than the City of Seward. It belongs to the people of Alaska.”
Seward Mayor Christy Terry said that the history of the Jesse Lee Home can be preserved without the actual building remaining standing: “We’re talking about a building. We have the opportunity to preserve the history and the legacy of a very important structure to the Alaskan people. It doesn’t mean that we have to preserve the building. Within this grant, there is a stipulation from State Historic Preservation Office that we gather all of the records, we have those available, we make a brochure, so that people can research those, reference those, those will be kept in the permanent vault with the City of Seward. Information will be more easy for people to find. We have these Family After All books. Seward loves history. We want to preserve the legacy of this important institution in Seward.”
The home is known as the home of the Alaska State Flag, which was designed at the home by Benny Benson.
