The Model Café
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A. E. "Cap" Lathrop

The Model Café, also, A. E. "Cap" Lathrop. Historic Fairbanks. The Model Café. From 1907 until 1967, the Model Café was the center of social life for townspeople. Initially opened on First Avenue, the Café could be entered from both First and Second avenues., The Fairbanks Rotary Club was founded in 1940 with 23 charter members. It held its first meeting at the Model Café and continued to meet there until the late 1950s. Today, there is a Model Café in the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital., "The official breakup [of the Chena River] at Fairbanks occurred at 12:24 o'clock this afternoon, when the ice under the bridge moved sufficiently to stop the clock at the Model Café. A movement of approximately ten feet occurred late yesterday afternoon, and only about six feet of slack remained on the wire connecting the monument with the clock" -Fairbanks Daily News-Miner May 14, 1922, [Top right photo caption reads] The Second Avenue entrance to the Model Café in the 1940s., [Middle right photo caption reads] The clock at the First Ave entrance to the Model Café, A. E. "Cap" Lathrop. Alaskan business tycoon Austin E. Lathrop's empire extended from southeastern Alaska to the Interior. Born in 1865 in Lapeer, Michigan, Lathrop worked his way west and then northwest. 1889 found him working as a contractor in Seattle. A couple of years later, he built a railroad on Fidalgo Island off the coast of Washington. Shortly after the completion of the railroad, he lost his investments in the panic of 1893., Starting from scratch, Cap Lathrop bought a ship in 1895 to haul freight to Juneau. He went on to build an entertainment and communication enterprise with movie theaters throughout Alaska including the Lacey Street and Empress theaters on Second Avenue. He founded the Midnight Sun Broadcasting Corp. (KFAR) and became president and general manager of the Healy River Coal Corp. of Suntrana., [Photo captions, from left center down, read] . Cap Lathrop's Empress Theater was Fairbanks first concrete structure. Built in 1927, popular belief of the time held that concrete could not withstand sub-Arctic temperatures. The movie theater closed its doors in 1961. Still recognizable, the Empress is now the Co-Op Mall., . During the silent motion picture era, Lathrop briefly ventured into the film-making business. His movie company made one feature film, "The Cheechakos," an Alaska movie classic., . Open in 1939, the Lathrop Building on Second Avenue was home to Cap Lathrop and his business office but was best known for its other tenants, KFAR and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner., . Austin Eugene "Cap" Lathrop