Ketchikan has job potential. Alaska had 21 years of job gains up until 2009. After a year without, Alaska added 1,800 jobs in 2010 and 5,200 in 2011, according to the Alaska Department of Labor.

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Former Ketchikan resident Mike Thomas, 47, died Dec. 20, 2011, in Mohave, Ariz. He was born in Salem, Ore., on Nov. 25, 1964, but was raised in Ketchikan.

With all the election excitement last week, we're a few days late in wishing Ketchikan a happy birthday, and in recognizing the first important election of the community's past.

Granted, it wasn't a milestone birthday, but 110 is nothing to scoff at - in fact, it's pretty old for a city, by Alaska standards - so it's worth taking the time to reflect a little on Ketchikan's municipal history.

On Aug. 25, 1900, Ketchikan became an official city with a population of 400 to 800, depending on who you believe. Citizens voted in favor of incorporating in part because they wanted a way to finance a school for the community's children.

Women, youth and those who didn't own property weren't allowed to vote in the Aug. 18 incorporation election, and it took place in the middle of the fishing season, so only about 100 men made the decision for everyone else, and of those only about 80 voted in favor of becoming a city.

It was enough, though, and the election results were certified on Aug. 25.

Also in that election, the community chose its first City Council: Mike Martin, John Stedman, Robert Allison, Boyd Young, M.M. Hopkins and J.R. Heckman.

Despite the low turnout in Ketchikan's first election, the decision to become a city has worked out pretty well over the past 110 years. Happy (belated) birthday to all of us!