Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns · #12 of 41 in Alaska. What drives it
Most of Fairbanks was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. 21 places in town are on the National Register, among them 3 National Historic Landmarks and three historic districts with 32 buildings between them. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1910.
Fairbanks dates its founding to 1901 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1910.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fairbanks is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #12 of 41 in Alaska. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Fairbanks’ 14.6 sits above most of its state (84% of Alaska towns have fewer) while its 47 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 3 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
★ Landmark
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1910 and 1920, then grew more than tenfold.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fairbanks’ Wikipedia page.
Fairbanks’s post office has been open since 1903. Another post office, Aurora, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Fairbanks.
Athabascan peoples have lived on, traveled through, and stewarded the land of the Fairbanks area for thousands of years. Fairbanks continues to benefit from the leadership and influence of people from Athabascan and other Alaska Native communities.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveVenus de Milo cast in solid gold by the Washington Alaska Bank of
In the archiveMen and one woman gathered outdoors with building construction in background, Gold Stream…
BuiltClay Street Cemetery (AHRS Site No. FAI-164) is builtBuiltImmaculate Conception Church is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereBill Walker is born here
Born hereVivica Genaux is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1897Venus de Milo cast in solid gold by the Washington Al…1900Men and one woman gathered outdoors with building con…
1900Judge Erwin
1900Fox pups raised by cat at Alaska Silver Fox and Fur F…
1900The Alaska Citizen building
1900Dog sled and men on snow shoes near Fairbanks
1900Experimental farm
1900Forest scene
1900Experimental farm
1900Dairy farm
1900Experimental farm
1900Fox farmEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fairbanks. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fairbanks.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Fairbanks’ page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1901, according to Wikidata. Fairbanks’ post office opened in 1902, and the census of 1910 counted 3,541 people here.
Fairbanks is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #12 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.
21 listings, 3 of them National Historic Landmarks: 14 buildings, among them the Thomas, George C., Memorial Library (a National Historic Landmark since 1978), 3 historic districts, the Ladd Field, the F. E. Company Housing and the Illinois Street Historic District, with 32 contributing buildings, 2 sites, and 2 structures. 47 historic buildings in all.
2% of Fairbanks’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.3% for an Alaska town; the median home was built in 1979.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (2), the Library of Congress (10), the National Register of Historic Places (21), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
