POPULATION: 99 (2004 State Demographer est.)
LOCATION: 32 miles northwest of Glennallen, at the north end of a 19.3 mile road that leaves Mile 159.8 of the Glenn Highway to the south.
DESCRIPTION: A mostly non-Native seasonal community spread throughout a popular boating and fishing recreation area. Lake Louise is known for its lake trout; ice fishing is popular during winter months. Lodges provide year-round accommodations. Lodges in the area have individual wells and septic systems, but most of the homes haul or filter lake water and use outhouses. Individual generators and/or solar power provide electricity. A Mat-Su Borough operated refuse transfer station is located at 3 Lakes Rentals. Many residents are seasonally employed or retired. Nearly 85 percent of the 255 housing units are used only part of the year. Students are home-schooled or attend school in Glennallen. Local hospitals or health services include Mat-Su Regional Hospital in Palmer (746-8600) or Anchorage hospitals. Auxiliary health care is provided by Lake Louise First Responders (373-8800/745-4811).
HISTORY: The first recorded name of Lake Louise was "Shosubenich" (great flat water with many islands) given by the Athabaskan peoples. The lake was later named "Adah" after a girlfriend of Lt. Joseph C. Castner, one of the early explorers of the region. Still later the name was changed to Lake Louise, a local name first reported by Capt. Edwin F. Glenn of the U.S. Geological Survey in Glenn and Abercrombie in 1889, in honor of his wife. The area is now designated State Recreation Area.
In the 1940's, during the construction of the Glenn Highway, Lake Louise was used as a rest and recreation site by the Army and later by the Air Force. Since the only way to the lake was by plane, a road was built with the construction starting at the lake, and at mile 160 of the Glenn Highway. The crews were to meet in the middle, but someone goofed and a jog in the road was necessary to connect the two ends. During the summer of 2006, the road was paved all the way from the Glenn Highway to the lake.