Downtown Juneau street to be renamed Heritage Way

Part of a street in downtown Juneau will have a new name this fall. At a meeting Tuesday night, the city’s planning commission approved a request to change South Seward Street to Heritage Way.

The nonprofit Sealaska Heritage Institute made the request. SHI President Rosita Worl announced the proposal in April at a ceremony celebrating Kootéeyaa Deiyí, the totem pole trail installed along Juneau’s waterfront this spring.

“I think naming it Heritage Way really celebrates the heritage of Alaska’s first people,” Worl said at Tuesday’s meeting.

South Seward Street runs from Front Street to Marine Way, between the Sealaska Heritage Institute building, Heritage Square and the Sealaska Corporation headquarters.

“I would like to thank the city administration for all the support we’ve had as Sealaska Heritage Institute,” Worl said. “I think we’ve become a model for many communities in terms of the partnership between citizens, organizations and the city.”

Juneau’s City Hall is also on that street. The name change won’t go into effect until Nov. 1 so that it won’t interfere with voter information materials for the October election.

“We have to put out voter information as far as where to mail back ballots and also where voting locations are, which is City Hall,” said Jill Maclean, director of Juneau’s community development department.

The city’s planning commission approves name change requests. The Juneau Assembly agreed to support the change last month. The city is the only other property owner on South Seward Street. Seward Street begins at the crosswalk between Heritage Coffee’s downtown cafe and Juneau Drug Co.

The planning commission unanimously approved the street name change.

 “We’re headed in the right direction,” Maclean said. “It’s a good day for Juneau.”

William Seward was the secretary of state in 1867 when the U.S. bought unceded Alaska Native land from Russia. In 2020, hundreds of people signed a petition to remove a statue of Seward near the Alaska State Capitol, saying the purchase of Alaska reflected U.S. imperialism.