During World War II the United States Army built a port and railroad near the glacier and named the port Whittier. The two big buildings that are very easy to notice in Whittier were built after World War II. The Hodge Building (now called Begich Towers) was built for housing soldiers and the Buckner Building, finish being built in 1953, was called the "city under one roof". It was once the biggest building in Alaska. The Begich Building is now a condominium (or houst that has many rooms that people live in), and almost all of the people that live in Whittier's live here.