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Whittier’s two most significant buildings are named the Buckner Building and of course the Begich Towers. Both of these buildings were built at the close of World War Two. These structures, built by the Army Corps of Engineers, along with the previously-noted railroad track leading into Whittier, cost a total of 55 million dollars and provided the American military a home base for logistical support at what was then considered the outer edge of the “Cold War frontier.”
The military abandoned the Buckner Building a mere seven years after it was completed. It did not take all that long for military intelligence to come to see that the United States did not actually have a lot of use for this far-flung military outpost. The Begich Towers, which is actually composed of three structures, is also known by the locals as the BTI.
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