Lemon Creek, Juneau

Lemon Creek is a neighborhood in Juneau, Alaska, United States. The name was entered into the Geographic Names Information System on January 1, 2000. It is 5 miles (8 km) northwest of downtown Juneau.^[1] It is the site of the Lemon Creek Correctional Center.^[2] The neighborhood is bisected by the namesake Lemon Creek, which provides runoff for local glaciers.

The area is mixed use, and contains heavy concentrations of housing and industrial areas. An industrial park in the area includes Juneau's Costco and The Home Depot stores, as well as the Alaskan Brewing Company. Also in the neighborhood are the headquarters of both the Juneau Police Department and Alaska Electric Light & Power. The area is the location of the cities primary landfill, and city operated hazardous waste collection facility as well.

The Lemon name is said to come from traveling miner John Lemon, who reportedly had a placer mine on the creek in 1879.^[3]

Trevor Davis, a notable Juneau photographer who died in the 1980s is credited with many historic Juneau photos; Davis was a land-owner/developer in Lemon Creek area; Davis Avenue is named for him. The remains of a sawmill existed with piles of sawdust into the late 1960s until the Correctional Center was built on that site. Old wooden ranch and farm buildings existed into the late 1960s where Creekside Mobile Home Park and the Police Station are currently located; neighborhood children referred to these abandoned structures as the "crow farm" in reference to the population of crows inhabiting them. Anka St was originally the entrance to a trailer park known as "Valley Court." The park was located on a hill adjacent east of Glacier Hwy; it included over 100 pre-1970 trailers, a laundromat, and an adjacent gravel pit. In the late 1970s this property was bought by Phil Godfrey (Red Samm) who evicted all the trailers and expanded the gravel pit. After the gravel was exhausted, the property was leveled for the current business/industrial zone of Jenkins Dr, Shaune Dr, and Commercial Blvd. The old concrete structures in the wetlands between Glacier Hwy and Egan Dr at Vanderbilt Creek were installed as foundation mounts for a large radar tower being erected in anticipation of Japanese attack during WWII. The unfinished project was abandoned when Japan surrendered. As of 2014 the old house from the original Jenkins homestead remained near Vanderbilt Creek in the field across from Tyler Rental. 2017 update: the old farmhouse was recently demolished; it was believed to be the oldest remaining structure in the Lemon Creek area.

References

Coordinates: 58°21′30″N 134°29′55″W / 58.35833°N 134.49861°W / 58.35833; -134.49861