In 1880, Sitka mining engineer George Pilz offered a reward to any Alaskan native who could lead him to gold. When a local arrived with some ore, several prospectors were sent to investigate and found nuggets "as large as peas and beans." On October 18, 1880, the two prospectors marked a 160-acre town site, and by the autumn of 1881, the mining camp had a population of over 100.

The city was temporarily renamed UNO, after the card game, on April 1, 2016 (April Fool's Day). The change was part of a promotion with toy manufacturer Mattel to draw attention to new wild cards in game. For Juneau's cooperation, Mattel donated $15,000 to the Juneau Community Foundation in honor of late Mayor Greg Fisk.

Juneau gets some kind of precipitation, on average, 236 days per year.

Taku Winds are mountain wave phenomenon generated over Gastineau Channel in the vicinity of Downtown Juneau and Douglas. Wind speeds vary in magnitude based on the strength of the mountain wave. Weak mountain waves produce gusts from 35 to 50 mph, while strong mountain waves yield gusts from 60 to 100 mph.

By 1906, after the decline of whaling and the fur trade, Sitka, the original capital of Alaska, had become less important and the territorial legislature moved the seat of government to Juneau.

Juneau shares its eastern border with the Canadian province of British Columbia, making it the only U.S. state capital to border another country. It is also unique among the 49 U.S. capitals on mainland North America in that there are no roads connecting the city to the rest of the state.

French-Canadian miner and prospector Joe Juneau, who co-founded the city with Richard Harris, reportedly bought drinks for fellow miners to persuade them to name the city in his honor.

The settlement founded by Juneau and Harris was originally called Harrisburg and then Rockwell. Miners often used both names in their records. There was also a proposal to name the town Pilzburg in honor of George Pilz. The town received its current name at a miners' meeting on December 14, 1881, at which the name Juneau received 47 of the 72 votes cast, while Harrisburg received 21 votes and Rockwell only four.

The Thing, a 1982 sci fi horror film about a group of researchers who encounter a parasitic extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates and imitates other organisms, may have been set in Antarctica, but it was actually filmed in Juneau.

In 1880, after Joe Juneau and Richard Harris were led to gold in the Silver Bow Basin, U.S. naval officers encouraged the Auke to move from the area to avoid conflict with miners and prospectors, but the tribe continued to return to what is now called Indian Point, for the annual harvest of herring at spawning time.