From Flu Devastation to Children’s Safe Haven
The Benny Benson Memorial in Alaska honors more than just a flag designer. It marks the story of a boy who survived one of America’s worst pandemic disasters.
In May 1919, Spanish flu hit the remote village of Unalaska like a sledgehammer. Nearly all 360 residents got sick, including 75 of 77 children at the Jesse Lee Home orphanage.
Coast Guard sailors found entire families unable to care for themselves and turned empty buildings into makeshift orphanages.
Young Benny Benson was among the children housed wherever space could be found, even in the town jail. The crisis forced a complete transformation of Alaska’s orphan care system.
Here’s how this pandemic tragedy reshaped children’s lives across the territory.
Flu Seemed to Skip Unalaska Until That Fateful Day
In spring 1919, folks in remote Unalaska thought they’d escaped the Spanish flu that ravaged the mainland US. Dr.
Albert Newhall at the Jesse Lee Home even listed their flu-free status as a blessing. His optimism didn’t last long.
The small settlement of about 360 people, mostly Aleut and mixed Russian-native families, relied on this one doctor for all their medical care.
The Jesse Lee Home housed 77 children in buildings standing since 1889, when Methodist missionary Agnes Soule set them up for Alaska’s orphans.
Two Days Changed Everything When the Ship Arrived
On May 23, 1919, a steamship from the mainland US docked at Unalaska harbor carrying an unwanted passenger: the Spanish flu. Within 48 hours, almost everyone in the settlement fell sick.
Fevers spread through the small community like wildfire. Dr. Newhall caught the virus too, leaving no one to care for the sick. At the Jesse Lee Home, 75 of 77 children came down with the illness.
Only two boys and one girl stayed healthy enough to help as the others fought to survive.
Coast Guard Ship Raced to Save a Dying Town
The USS Unalga picked up a desperate radio call on May 26 about the Unalaska outbreak. Captain Dodge chose to help Unalaska instead of continuing to Bristol Bay.
When the Coast Guard crew arrived, they found the “native population all down and helpless, unable to cook or care for themselves.”
The crew jumped into action right away, using their ship’s doctor, medicine, and food to save as many lives as they could.
Children Slept Wherever Space Could Be Found
The Jesse Lee Home ran out of beds as sick children filled every corner. New orphans whose parents died from flu kept showing up.
Coast Guard members took over an empty house, calling it the “USS UNALGA Orphan Home” for the overflow of children. Even this makeshift orphanage filled quickly.
Some children ended up staying in the town jail watched by the local marshal. Among these kids was Benny Benson, about six years old, who would later make Alaska history.
Big Pete and His Crew Worked Around the Clock
For two weeks straight, Coast Guard sailors worked non-stop to keep the community alive. Some built coffins while others dug graves as deaths mounted.
Crew members went house to house starting fires, bringing soup, caring for the sick, and removing bodies.
Master-at-Arms Peter “Big Pete” Bugaras, known as the “strongest man in Coast Guard Service,” took charge of looking after the orphaned children.
The sailors became nurses, caregivers, cooks, and gravediggers as the community fought to live.
A Village Forever Changed by Summer’s End
By June 13, 1919, the worst had passed. The flu killed 45 people in the village of 300, creating many orphans.
The Jesse Lee Home lost one teacher and one girl despite 75 children getting sick. Unalaska’s story matched what happened across Alaska, where some villages lost everyone.
Coast Guard reports told of wild dogs attacking bodies in empty villages until crews shot the animals. The pandemic created hundreds of orphans across Alaska, overwhelming the few homes set up to care for them.
Methodist Women Faced a Tough Decision After the Crisis
The Women’s Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Church hit a roadblock after the pandemic. The Jesse Lee Home buildings in Unalaska showed serious damage and decay.
The orphanage now overflowed with children who lost their families to the flu.
Getting supplies and moving children to and from this distant spot in the Aleutians cost too much and wasn’t reliable. The society leaders looked at their shrinking funds and the growing need.
They knew they needed to make a change.
The Perfect Spot for a Fresh Start Appeared
Seward stood out as the best place to rebuild. As Alaska’s busiest port and travel hub in the 1920s, it offered what Unalaska couldn’t: good connections to the outside world.
The federal government helped by giving 100 acres on the west side of Resurrection Bay, just 1½ miles from downtown Seward.
Ships often traveled between Seward and Seattle, making it easier and cheaper to bring in food, medicine, clothing, and other needs. The new spot meant the home could help more children with better supplies.
Buildings Rose to Meet a Growing Need
Washington architect Stanley Shaw created plans for modern buildings to serve generations of children.
Local builder John Holm led construction, working with Charles Lechner on plumbing and heating while Gerhard Johnson handled plastering.
The new campus featured two main buildings, Goode Hall and Jewel Guard Hall, linked by covered walkways.
Jewel Guard Hall included workshops where children learned useful skills, plus a library, chapel, gym, and classrooms. The buildings matched the goal: to give children shelter, education and hope.
Fall Brought a New Beginning for Sixty Children
September 1925 marked moving day as the Jesse Lee Home officially moved from Unalaska to Seward. Sixty children, 25 boys and 35 girls, traveled to their new home.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. Hatton became the first leaders of the Seward location.
They walked into buildings made to eventually house up to 120 children, double their current number. The new place offered better educational programs and job training that wasn’t possible at the old location.
For the first time since the pandemic, the future looked bright for these children.
From Orphanage Beds to Alaska History Books
By 1926, the Jesse Lee Home in Seward became the largest accessible orphanage in Alaska, taking in children from across the territory.
The move from tragedy to triumph came full circle when Benny Benson, who had survived the 1919 flu pandemic as a child, created Alaska history.
As a student at the Jesse Lee Home in 1927, he won the territory-wide contest to design the Alaska flag with his simple but powerful design of the Big Dipper and North Star on a blue background.
The home continued to provide education, healthcare, vocational training, and care primarily for Alaska Native children until 1964, when another disaster, the Good Friday Earthquake, damaged the buildings beyond repair.
Visiting Benny Benson Memorial, Alaska
The Benny Benson Memorial sits at the corner of Seward Highway and Dairy Hill Lane with free daily entry.
You can walk the quarter-mile boardwalk along the lagoon to spot wildlife and use the picnic tables on the grounds. Check out Benson’s original flag design at the nearby Seward Community Library.
The Jesse Lee Home where the tragedy happened has been torn down, but there are plans for a memorial park at that spot.
This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.
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