Peek at the Past

Here’s what made the news in the Oct. 31, 1963, edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman:

D & A Super opening is tomorrow, Saturday

Tomorrow and Saturday will mark the grand opening of the D & A Super, Palmer’s newest supermarket opened by Darrell and Ann Frank. The handsome new structure is located on the north side of the Glenn Highway at the Valley Street intersection. It replaces the D & A Grocery on Valley Street, a popular Palmer shopping center for the past four years. Frank said this week that 200,000 pounds of fresh groceries have arrived for the grand opening. Visitors to the store for the opening will be served Primrose sweet rolls from Sunrise Bakery, Hills Bros. coffee, Matanuska Maid ice cream and cookies. A specialty of the D & A Super will be its custom meats department, where store patrons will have their meats cut to their specifications. Meats will not be pre-packaged, Frank added, and the 8,000-square-foot store will provide plenty of storage space.

Department of highways reaches goal; more work scheduled

The Alaska department of highways has reached a goal of a $70 million highway program as forecasted earlier this year, deputy commissioner Robert E. Sharp said last week in an address to the Alaska Municipal League convention in Seward. By the end of the year, the total figure will be even greater than the predicted amount, Sharp pointed out, as the highway department will continue to call for bids and let contracts throughout the winter. More than $8 million worth of new projects are in the final stages of pre-construction and will be advertised by the end of December. In addition, the department has more than $10 million under advertisement now with bid openings scheduled with in the next few weeks.

Plans to move experiment station revealed

Plans are in the making to transfer the Agricultural Experiment Station to the University of Alaska, according to a recent news release. The release says that, “the University of Alaska Board of Regents by unanimous action, has requested transfer of certain functions of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the University.” Preliminary plans for the transfer of functions that will give more local control were begun at last year’s board of regents meeting. The new agreement would modify the joint program instituted by an act of Congress in 1949. Under this program, the university and Department of Agriculture cooperatively operate the Agricultural Experiment Station in Alaska. The proposed action to realign the functions of the Department of Agriculture will enable the university to have complete jurisdiction over the experimental station and its facilities.

It cost what?

According to advertisements, in 1963 you could:

• Buy a tray pack of fryers for 98 cents.

• Purchase three loaves of bread for $1.19.

• Rent a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Wasilla for $80.