The North Pole Pole

You are in North Pole, Alaska, a town that leans all the way into its name. The land here was homesteaded in nineteen forty-four by Bon and Bernice Davis, and the Alaska Railroad called the siding simply Davis. Then, in nineteen fifty-two, a development company bought the homestead and rechristened it North Pole, hoping a toy maker might move in and stamp Made in North Pole on every box.

North Pole became a first-class city in January of nineteen fifty-three. The toy factory never came, but the theme stuck hard. Streets here carry names like Santa Claus Lane, Kris Kringle, Mistletoe, Blitzen, and Donner, and the streetlights are shaped like candy canes year round.

Nearby stands the Santa Claus House, fronted by a forty-two-foot Santa, where letters still leave with a genuine North Pole postmark.