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Galena IMG 5655 (8906317261)Photo: Alaska DOT&PF · CC BY 2.0
–Not graded
History · Galena

Galena was first counted by the census in 1890

Most of Galena was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1952 on, and the census since 1890.

1890first census
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Galena’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Galena began

When was Galena founded?

1890

Galena first appears in the census in 1890.

First census: 15 in 18902020 census: 472136 years
Founding year: the first census.The full story ↓

What stands out about Galena’s past

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

Boom and bustPeaked at 833 in 1990; 472 people lived here in 2020.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1917–1989.
★ What stands out · People over time

Galena, census by census

02004006008001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 833

Peaked at 833 in 1990; 472 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

By decade

Galena, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s5 items
Alaska1917AlaskaLanding Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - AlaskaLanding Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - AlaskaLanding Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - AlaskaLanding Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - Alaska
1940s–1980s7 items
Alaska1945AlaskaAlaska1945AlaskaAlaska1945AlaskaCabins at Old Galena Village along the Yukon River - DPLA - fbc9fd6c4aff34aa759c77c08e490e421978Cabins at Old Galena Village along the Yukon River - …317th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Convair F-102A-75-CO Delta Dagger 56-12791982317th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Convair F-102A-75-…SSGT Ronald Anderson and AMN Albert Freeman, air traffic controllers with Detachment 2, 1930th Information Systems Squa…1986SSGT Ronald Anderson and AMN Albert Freeman, air traf…A view of the Minimally Attended Radar Tower, a part of the North American Air Defense Command early warning system, at…1989A view of the Minimally Attended Radar Tower, a part …
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
The story

How Galena came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Galena.

Read it all →

The Koyukon Athabascans had seasonal camps in the area and moved as the wild game migrated. In the summer many families floated on rafts to the Yukon River to fish for salmon. There were 12 summer fish camps located on the Yukon River between the Koyukuk River and the Nowitna River. Galena was established in 1920 near an Athabascan fish camp called Henry's Point. It became a supply and point for nearby lead ore mines that opened in 1918 and 1919, and from which Galena takes its name.

ChaptersPrehistory and early historyMilitary air baseModern era

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Galena, 1917 to 1990

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1917In the archiveAlaska
  3. 1932Post officeThe Galena post office opens
  4. 1945In the archiveAlaska
  5. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1978In the archiveCabins at Old Galena Village along the Yukon River - DPLA - fbc9fd6c4aff34aa759c77c08e490…
  7. 1982In the archive317th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Convair F-102A-75-CO Delta Dagger 56-1279
  8. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 833
On the map

Galena on the map in 1952

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Galena.

Galena on the 1952 USGS map1952Nulato C-2 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 Galena.

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.

Alaska
Retake this viewAlaska, 1917

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Galena’s post office has been open since 1932.

Gone or out of use
BolshoigorlocaleGalena Air Force Basemilitary

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

Help out

Finish Galena’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 viewAlaska: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Galena’s history

What year was Galena founded?

The Galena post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1918.

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.