William Alex Stolt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Alex "Bill" Stolt (1900-2001) served as Mayor of Anchorage, Alaska from 1941-1944.

William Alex Stolt was born to Finnish parents in Boston, Massachusetts on July 5, 1900. He spent the first ten years of his life in Finland, moving back to the United States after the death of his father, and his mother's remarriage to a man in Seattle. In 1913, the family moved to Juneau, and then Anchorage in 1917. He attended Anchorage High School, graduating in 1920. He studied electrical engineering at Washington State College, and in 1929 married Lily, another student from Anchorage.

Stolt worked as an electrician, operating Bill's Electric Shop & Supply in Anchorage. In 1938, he filed for a homestead on land near Otter Lake that would later be incorporated into Fort Richardson. He built a cabin with his brother Paul, and lived there for a time, but abandoned the claim in 1942.

Stolt lobbied for the Municipality of Anchorage to purchase Anchorage Light and Power Company and their Eklutna power plant in order to provide the fledgling city with better electrification. He ran successfully for city council and then, in 1941, mayor. The population of Anchorage at the time was about 5,000 residents. [1]

In December 1941, in response to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and under the advice of Colonel Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., Stolt ordered a partial blackout of Anchorage. [2]

In 1943, with Stolt in office, a municipal bond measure passed authorizing the purchase of Anchorage Light and Power, and in 1944, operation of the plant passed to Anchorage Public Utilities.

Stolt died in the Anchorage Pioneer Home on February 28, 2001.