The Red Dragon, 100 Lake Avenue, Cordova, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, AK

Significance: Construction of what would become the Copper River & Northwestern Railway, built to provide access to the recently discovered copper lodes at Kennecott, 196 miles inland, was begun in 1906. Visiting the native village of Eyak a year later, Episcopal missionary the Rev. E. P. Newton realized the pressing need for a social hall to serve the hundreds of construction and railway workers. The construction of the one-room wood frame building known as the Red Dragon Club House began the following summer. When it opened on July 14, 1908, the Red Dragon soon became the town's center of social activities, hosting events such as dances, theatrical performances, ice cream socials, boxing matches, and, on Sundays, church services and Sunday school. Open daily until midnight, the club house featured a large stone fireplace at the west end, and offered comfortable chairs, a piano, a pool table, and a 600-volume library.

With the completion of the adjacent St. George's Episcopal Church in 1919, the Red Dragon ceased hosting services, although it continued as the social center of Cordova. In the mid-1940s, following the decline of Cordova's economy precipitated by the closure of the Kennecott mines in 1938, the Red Dragon was remodeled to serve as the rectory for the church. At some point in the mid-twentieth century, both a kitchen and a bathroom were installed and, with the establishment of a public library in Cordova, the bookshelves and books were removed. Following a fire in the late 1950s, the stone fireplace was removed. Threatened with demolition by the State Highway Department in 1964, Cordovans rallied to save their oldest standing building, and in 1982 the Red Dragon was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as the centerpiece of the Red Dragon Historic District.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N2070
Survey number: HABS AK-241
Building/structure dates: 1908 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: ca. 1945 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: ca. 1959 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 82004899