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C−History
History · Ester

Ester’s post office opened in 1965, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 21% of U.S. towns · #20 of 41 in Alaska. What drives it

Most of Ester was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 11 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1910.

1965first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Ester’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Ester began

When was Ester founded?

1965

The Ester post office opened in 1965, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Berry (1906), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 213 in 19102020 census: 2,41661 years

How historic is Ester?

C−

More historic than 21% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Ester post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Ester’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ester is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #20 of 41 in Alaska. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ester’s overall grade.
Founding era1965, from the first post office: founded 1945 or later, an older era than 2% of U.S. townsD−Homes built before 19400.0% of homes (±0.6) · typical AK town 0.3% · U.S. 8.4%D−National Register1 listing, 11 historic buildings, 40.0 per 10,000 residents · typical AK town 3.3 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 21%
NewerOlder
Alaska towns of 2,500+ (41)Ahead of 52%

Alaska towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Alaska town has 3.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Ester’s 40.0 sits above most of its state (91% of Alaska towns have fewer) while its 11 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C+. The pre-1940 share (±0.6 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Ester’s past

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

Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1940 and 1950, then grew more than tenfold.
★ What stands out · People over time

Ester, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,500192019401960198020002020218 in 1940Low: 74

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1940 and 1950, then grew more than tenfold.

10 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Ester came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ester.

Read it all →

Ester was originally a gold mining camp on Ester Creek, with the first claim staked in February 1903 by Latham A. Jones. Jones worked with the Eagle Mining Company, the biggest claimholder on Glen Gulch in the Rampart mining district, but it was an independent miner, John "Jack" Mihalcik, a Czechoslovak immigrant born in 1866, who was the first person to actually discover gold in Ester Creek. Mihalcik staked his claim in November 1903 but the news of the discovery of gold did not become public until the following February. By 1907, Ester City had a population of around 200 people, with a thriving mining industry. A social hall was completed in 1907 and was well-known throughout the mining district for its dance floor. The hall was used for religious services as well as dances, movies, card games, parties, and other entertainment purposes. The town had five saloons and two hotels. In 190…

ChaptersEarly history and foundingSince 1940

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ester, 1906 to 2010

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1906Post officeThe Berry post office opens
  3. 1914In the archiveLarge mining operation on Esther Creek, Fairbanks, 1914
  4. 1933In the archiveEAST FRONT - Cripple Creek, Mess Hall-Bunkhouse, Ester, Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK
  5. 1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1965Post officeThe Berry post office closes
  7. 1965Post officeThe Ester post office opens
  8. 21st century
  9. 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 2,422
By decade

Ester, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1930s6 items
Large mining operation on Esther Creek, Fairbanks, 1914c. 1914Large mining operation on Esther Creek, Fairbanks, 19…Large mining operation on Esther Creek, Fairbanks, ca. 1914c. 1914Large mining operation on Esther Creek, Fairbanks, ca…Street scene in Ester City near Fairbanks, ca. 1914c. 1914Street scene in Ester City near Fairbanks, ca. 1914EAST FRONT - Cripple Creek, Mess Hall-Bunkhouse, Ester, Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK1933EAST FRONT - Cripple Creek, Mess Hall-Bunkhouse, Este…EAST FRONT AND NORTH SIDE - Cripple Creek, Mess Hall-Bunkhouse, Ester, Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK1933EAST FRONT AND NORTH SIDE - Cripple Creek, Mess Hall-…FRONTS, LOOKING SOUTHWEST - Cripple Creek, Bunkhouses, Ester, Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK1933FRONTS, LOOKING SOUTHWEST - Cripple Creek, Bunkhouses…
1940s–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
On the map

Ester on the map, 1949 to 1992

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ester. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Ester on the 1949 USGS mapEster on the 1950 USGS mapEster on the 1972 USGS mapEster on the 1992 USGS map1949Fairbanks D-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 Ester.

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.

Large mining operation on Esther Creek, Fairbanks, 1914
Retake this viewLarge mining operation on Esther Creek, Fairbanks, 1914, c. 1914

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 11 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
11
each building in a district counts
first listed
1987
Ester Camp Historic District
Ester Camp Historic District
Districts
Ester Camp Historic DistrictDistrict

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Ester’s post office has been open since 1965. Another post office, Berry, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Berry
1906–1965
Ester
1965–today
19001960today
Gone or out of use
BerrylocaleGold MinemineGold Minemine

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Ester’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLarge mining operation on Esther Creek,…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Chena Ridge2 historic placesC−GoldstreamIts storyD−College4 historic placesC−

Questions about Ester’s history

What year was Ester founded?

The Ester post office opened in 1965, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Ester rank for history?

Ester is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #20 of 41 in Alaska. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Ester?

One place: the Ester Camp Historic District (listed 1987).

How old are the homes in Ester?

0.0% of Ester’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.3% for an Alaska town; the median home was built in 1993.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.