Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Anaktuvuk Pass

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Anaktuvuk Pass

Anaktuvuk Pass dates to 1949

Most of Anaktuvuk Pass was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1971 on, and the census since 1950.

1949founded
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
7old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Anaktuvuk Pass’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Anaktuvuk Pass began

When was Anaktuvuk Pass founded?

1949

Anaktuvuk Pass dates its founding to 1949 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1950.

First census: 66 in 19502020 census: 42577 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1951.The full story ↓

What stands out about Anaktuvuk Pass’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1950 and 1960, then grew more than tenfold.
★ What stands out · People over time

Anaktuvuk Pass, census by census

0100200300400196019802000202066 in 1950Low: 35

Lost half of its people between 1950 and 1960, then grew more than tenfold.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Anaktuvuk Pass’ Wikipedia page.

The story

How Anaktuvuk Pass came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Anaktuvuk Pass.

Read it all →

Anaktuvuk Pass was named after the Anaktuvuk River, and lies at the crossing of two mountain valleys. Anaktuvuk is the English way of spelling "anaqtuġvik", place of caribou droppings in Inupiaq, the language of the Inupiat.

Archaeological evidence from the Tuktu-Naiyuk site, located just north of the settlement, indicates human activity dating from 8,000 to 3,000 years before present. Artifacts such as microblades and other Arctic Small Tools from the Paleo-Eskimo Northern Archaic period suggest that the site was used for processing animals.

ChaptersThe Long WalkGates of the Arctic National Park

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Anaktuvuk Pass, 1933 to 2020

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1933In the archiveAnaktuvuk Pass Settlement Site, Privately owned land within boundaries of Gates of Arctic…
  3. 1949
    FoundingAnaktuvuk Pass is established
  4. 1951Post officeThe Anaktuvuk Pass post office opens
  5. 1957In the archiveAnaktuvuk house 1957
  6. 1969In the archiveVillage Anaktuvuk Pass 1969
  7. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1972In the archiveAnaktuvuk Pass
  9. 21st century
  10. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 425
By decade

Anaktuvuk Pass, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s–1960s5 items
Anaktuvuk Pass Settlement Site, Privately owned land within boundaries of Gates of Arctic National Park and Preserve, A…1933Anaktuvuk Pass Settlement Site, Privately owned land …Anaktuvuk Pass Settlement Site, Privately owned land within boundaries of Gates of Arctic National Park and Preserve, A…1933Anaktuvuk Pass Settlement Site, Privately owned land …HABS AK-193 (sheet 1 of 4) - Justus Mekiana House, 3022 Main Street, Anaktuvuk Pass, North Slope Borough, AK1933HABS AK-193 (sheet 1 of 4) - Justus Mekiana House, 30…Anaktuvuk house 19571957Anaktuvuk house 1957Village Anaktuvuk Pass 19691969Village Anaktuvuk Pass 1969
1970s2 items
Anaktuvuk Pass1972Anaktuvuk PassTraveling by dog sled through Anaktuvuk Valley1972Traveling by dog sled through Anaktuvuk Valley
1980s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today5 recent
Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska2011Anaktuvuk Pass, AlaskaAnaktuvuk Pass, Alaska from the air2011Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska from the airVillage of2007Village ofAKP-Aerial Map2001AKP-Aerial MapMapJohn Wild River, near Anaktuvuk2000John Wild River, near Anaktuvuk
On the map

Anaktuvuk Pass on the map in 1971

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Anaktuvuk Pass.

Anaktuvuk Pass on the 1971 USGS map1971Chandler Lake A-3 sheet · 1:63,360

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Anaktuvuk Pass.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Anaktuvuk Pass Settlement Site, Privately owned land within boundaries of Gates of Arctic National Park and Preserve, A…
Retake this viewAnaktuvuk Pass Settlement Site, Privately owned land within boundaries of Gates of Arctic National Park and Preserve, A…, 1933

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Anaktuvuk Pass’ page.

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Anaktuvuk Pass’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
4 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewAnaktuvuk Pass Settlement Site, Private…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Anaktuvuk Pass’ history

What year was Anaktuvuk Pass founded?

In 1949, according to Wikidata. Anaktuvuk Pass’ post office opened in 1951, and the census of 1950 counted 66 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (12), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.