Austin E. Lathrop
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Austin "Cap" Lathrop was born on a Michigan farm, and moved to Seattle in 1889 to work as a building contractor. When the Alaska gold rushes began, he bought a schooner and worked as a trader between Seattle and Alaska, then started purchasing land and building in the growing territory. Over time he developed the Healy River coal mining company, business blocks, the Midnight Sun Broadcasting Company, two banks, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper, and several theaters.
The first concrete building in Fairbanks was his two-story Empress Theatre, built in 1927 on Second Avenue; it seated 670 and boasted the first pipe organ ever brought into Interior Alaska. Construction on a second cinema house, the Lacey Street Theatre, began in 1936 and was not finished until 1940. It was billed as the most expensively furnished theater per seat in the U.S.
A home-grown millionaire, by 1927 Lathrop was regarded as the wealthiest man in the Alaska Territory. He probably owned half the city of Fairbanks at that point. "The Chechahcos" was his film company's first and only feature. He died in 1950 when a loaded railroad car at his Healy coal mine ran over him.
The first concrete building in Fairbanks was his two-story Empress Theatre, built in 1927 on Second Avenue; it seated 670 and boasted the first pipe organ ever brought into Interior Alaska. Construction on a second cinema house, the Lacey Street Theatre, began in 1936 and was not finished until 1940. It was billed as the most expensively furnished theater per seat in the U.S.
A home-grown millionaire, by 1927 Lathrop was regarded as the wealthiest man in the Alaska Territory. He probably owned half the city of Fairbanks at that point. "The Chechahcos" was his film company's first and only feature. He died in 1950 when a loaded railroad car at his Healy coal mine ran over him.