The 2024 Park of the Year is Kincaid Park!
Kincaid is one of the largest and most popular parks in our amazing park system. As Park of the Year, we will be diving deep into the rich history and stories surrounding this flagship park throughout the year.
To help us highlight this park, we partnered with local artist Ted Kincaid, grandson of the park’s namesake homesteaders, on a custom piece of artwork. His beautiful depiction of a typical scene from a park bench was painted on a piece of repurposed plywood.
Get a free sticker of this custom Kincaid artwork as part of participating in the 2024 Moose Loop Trail Challenge, a popular community event that celebrates the world-class urban trails that loop around the city of Anchorage, in the shape of a moose! This Kincaid image is available now on merchandise through our new online store. Every purchase supports the Anchorage Park Foundation. Visit the store.
Artwork by Ted Kincaid
Kincaid is a park where people in Anchorage can experience the outdoors and natural beauty without traveling too far from home. The Park has something to offer everyone, whether you want to be active or still, participate in events, or enjoy quiet solitude. Kincaid is also a park with a history. It is a somewhat complicated history that involves the formation of the landscape, the story of native peoples, homesteading in the early days of Anchorage, the threat of Russian attack, and the many community partnerships that make the place a treasure trove of outdoor recreational opportunities.
Visitors to Kincaid Park can access the beach via the Coastal Trail along the Moose Loop. From the Kincaid Chalet, it is roughly a mile along a trail that winds down a rolling hill to a well-marked spur trail.
Natural History
The landscape of Kincaid Park has varied and eye-catching topography. Cook Inlet surrounds the Park on three sides, with Turnagain Arm on the southern border and Knik Arm to the west. Kincaid offers vantage points from which Fire Island, Mt. Susitna, Mt. Denali, and Mt. Foraker can be viewed. In the distant past, near the end of the last ice age, the Knik and Matanuska glaciers created a river that carved out the hilly terrain and left deposits of silt and gravel. Many birch, cottonwood, and spruce trees grow on the hills, and Kincaid Park may even be home to some of the oldest trees in the city. However, the natural feature that stands out most may be the ever-shifting sand dunes.
Dena’ina History
The Dena’ina have many significant sites in the Anchorage area. One of these sites commemorates a battle between the Dena’ina and Ułchena raiders. This battle took place before white explorer contact in the 18th century when an Ułchena raiding party traveled to the area and kidnapped the wife of a Dena’ina chief’s son. Dena’ina warriors attacked the raiding party and successfully rescued the woman. The traditional name given to this site is “Ułchena bada Huch’iłyut,” which means “Where We Pulled up the Alutiiq Boats.” This site is one of thirty-two locations in Anchorage and Eklutna to be recognized and given a cultural art installation as part of the Indigenous Place Names (IPN) Project.
Kincaid Family Homesteaders
Kincaid Park is named for Ralph Goodwin and Delora Kincaid, homesteaders who moved to Anchorage in 1940. They were granted land in the Sand Lake area near Jewel Lake. At first, they worked the land, growing crops and raising livestock, but eventually, Ralph joined the local police force while Delora became civically active. The Kincaids founded Granite Products, Inc., which later became a partnership with another local family, Kincaid & King Construction. In 1948, the state bought portions of the Kincaid homestead to build the Ted Stevens International Airport. The Kincaids donated money, equipment, and time to build playgrounds and ball fields throughout the budding Municipality of Anchorage and were essential to bringing Little League Baseball to Anchorage. Ralph Goodwin Kincaid died in 1953 and his wife Delora Kincaid continued to be active with the company.
The Original Kincaid Park
Before the sprawling Kincaid Park of today, there was an earlier park by the same name. In the late 1950s, the original Kincaid Park was located on land near the northeast side of Jewel Lake. The 27-acre tract was known as Kincaid Park at Jewel Lake. According to local newspapers of the time, this was a location where people picnicked, boated, and held community events. In the 1960s, the city wanted to rename this Kincaid Park to Jewel Lake Park. The Kincaid family opposed the change, so the city offered to have a different tract of land bear the name of Kincaid Park. In 1968, land the city had previously acquired from the U.S. military was chosen to be renamed Kincaid Park.
Lex Yelverton with Alaska’s News Source took a tour of Kincaid Park and learned about the vital military roles it played.
Military History
Before the U.S. military owned the land that is today known as Kincaid Park, it had been a part of the Chugach National Forest. The land was withdrawn in 1915 and became the Point Campbell Military Reservation. In 1959, during the Cold War, a Nike-Hercules surface-to-air missile unit was stationed there, and the location was known as Site Point. The soldiers used a radar system to monitor for incoming Soviet air strikes. When the Good Friday Earthquake hit in 1964, many of the missiles were knocked from their cradles and damaged, spilling propellant fuel and activating electronic components. The soldiers at the site labored for three days to clean up and safely secure the area. They were given a meritorious citation for preventing a potentially disastrous situation. The missile site was deactivated in 1979 and over time the land was passed on to the Municipality of Anchorage. Bunkers and other remnants of this period in the Park’s history can still be seen today.
Park Creation
Starting in 1973, Kincaid Park was intended to be a multi-use area. A land use permit was issued from the State of Alaska, and official development of cross-country ski trails near Little Campbell Lake began. Motocross races have occurred at the park site since at least 1975. Kincaid Park was officially created in 1978 and expanded in 1980 when the Municipality of Anchorage acquired the land from the Air Force through the Federal Land Surplus Act. In 1983, Kincaid Park came under the management of Anchorage’s Parks & Recreation Department.
Continued Development
Over the years, Kincaid Park has continued to be developed and improved. Landscape architects help to match new additions with the Park’s natural landscape and historical sites. The present-day chalet (Kincaid Outdoor Center) and several storage buildings were once Site Point military bunkers. The trapezoidal shape of the bunkers also inspired the look of four kiosks that were built in 1985. The parking lot covers most of the old rail system used for the missiles, but some parts of it remain visible. A brass plaque was displayed at the park to commemorate the soldiers’ hard work in the aftermath of the Good Friday Earthquake.
There are approximately 60 kilometers of winter cross-country ski trails throughout the park, which can also be hiked or biked in the summertime. The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail connects Kincaid to the rest of the city of Anchorage. Over the years, the Park has created space for soccer fields, a disc golf course, a biathlon range, singletrack biking, fishing, boating, archery, dog training, and roller skiing.
Kincaid Park has served as host to several major sporting events. As early as 1974, the park hosted the FIS Cross Country Ski Championships. Other events have included the selection of the U.S. Olympic Teams for cross-country skiing, Alaska Ski for Women, the NCAA National Cross-Country Skiing Championships, the 2001 Special Olympic World Games, and numerous local events. The park is lively, and there is always another event to look forward to just around the corner.
Kincaid Park’s Future
Over time, Kincaid has become woven into the fabric of Anchorage’s everyday life. People go there to stay healthy, relax, get closer to nature, and celebrate. Kincaid is the kind of park where people can think, look, explore, improve, be, and do. This is in no small part thanks to the many people who have helped take care of and develop the park’s landscape and recreation sites. As long as people continue to appreciate the park and all it has to offer, Kincaid will continue to be there for the people of Anchorage or anyone who needs a place to get away.
