Alaska became the 49th U.S. state in 1959.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act on July 7, 1958, after Congress approved it. Alaska was formally admitted to the Union on January 3, 1959, becoming the first new state since Arizona joined in 1912. Its admission expanded the United States far beyond the contiguous states.
The territory had been purchased from the Russian Empire in 1867 for $7.2 million. Critics initially mocked the deal as “Seward’s Folly,” referring to Secretary of State William H. Seward, but Alaska’s natural resources and strategic location later made the purchase highly significant. The territory’s residents approved statehood in a 1956 referendum.
Alaska’s admission created a temporary distinction between the 48 contiguous states and the new noncontiguous state. Hawaii joined later in the same year as the 50th state. Alaska is the largest U.S. state by area and is separated from the contiguous United States by Canada.