The Town Under One Roof

[W. Gray]

There is a unique town in the United States that is 19.7 square miles in area. That is quite a bit larger than the .70 square mile area of Howard, Kansas, but the town has a lower population than does Howard.

In this town, 80 percent of the inhabitants live under the same roof, thus giving the town the nickname of "the town under one roof." Not only does everyone in town know each other, they almost all sleep close together.

Living under one roof is no mean feat, since the town has 218 people.

The town is extremely remote but you can get there by boat, train, small aircraft, or drive through what is described as the longest tunnel in the United States. Only problem is the tunnel is one-way through its entire 2.5-mile-long length.

The direction of the tunnel is changed every thirty minutes. So, if you arrive at the entrance just as the traffic light changes red, you have a thirty-minute wait before you can proceed to town. To make things a little more complicated, trains share the tunnel.

The scenic drive into town:


The town has a church, medical clinic, police station, post office, restaurant, laundromat, market, and neighborhood bar—all under the same roof with the townspeople. The town school is reached via an underground tunnel for the children living under that roof.

The town has a one-runway light plane airport but it is not open all year. The town also operates a sea plane dock.

Almost everyone in town seems to be engaged in tourism, it is not quite clear from the web sites. Tourists are welcome to sleep under the same roof with the majority of the town.


Welcome to the home of the majority of the population of Whittier, Alaska. (The building is a former military barracks)

Whittier is a port on the Alaska Marine Highway.

[Diane Amberg]

Been there to pick up our little cruise ship to tour Prince William Sound. It was fun going through that ''everybody shares it" tunnel. I'd never heard of it before. We got a nice bus tour around the town before we boarded the little ship. Whittier also has another nickname which I can't repeat. Sea plane is the most common form of travel.