In the spring of 1943, new barracks were built in the Denny Regrade area to house civilian men awaiting transport to Alaska to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Sometimes called the Denny Regrade Transient Camp, the fifteen barracks had a total capacity of 600, and were built because of the difficulty of finding hotel accommodations for non-military personnel waiting to embark. The camp also included two large recreation halls with facilities for games, reading, letter writing, and entertainment.

Four hundred men arrived at the barracks in mid-April 1943, shown here with their suitcases entering one of the barracks, where they would live "enjoying all the comforts of home" until their ship sailed for Alaska. Then still a U.S. Territory, Alaska played a significant role in WWII as battlefield, lend-lease transfer station, and North Pacific stronghold, all which required massive construction projects throughout the region. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recruited tens of thousands of civilian men and women for these projects, many of whom stayed after the war. Alaska's population doubled between 1940 and 1950, one of the factors that led to statehood in 1959.

Caption information source: Seattle Times, April 14, 1943, p. 19 (photo caption).
Caption information source: "World War II in Alaska," retrieved from https://www.nps.gov/articles/world-war-ii-in-alaska.htm
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.