Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Livengood

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 · Livengood

Livengood’s post office opened in 1915

Most of Livengood was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1952 on, and the census since 1920.

1915first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Livengood’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Livengood began

When was Livengood founded?

1915

The Livengood post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 131 in 19202020 census: 16111 years
Founding year: the first Livengood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Livengood’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 153 in 1940; 16 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Livengood’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Livengood’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewGold mining operation: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Livengood, census by census

0100192019401960198020002020Peak: 153

Peaked at 153 in 1940; 16 people lived here in 2020.

7 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story

How Livengood came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Livengood.

Read it all →

Gold was discovered in 1914, on Livengood Creek by N.R. Hudson and Jay Livengood. The village was founded near the Hudson/Livengood claim as a mining camp during the winter of 1914-1915, when hundreds of people came into the district.

A post office was established in 1915 and was discontinued in 1957.

A construction camp was located near Livengood during the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

Livengood was the last operating location of the antiquated 2600 Hz telephone trunk system. It was switched to the modern system in March 2011.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Livengood, 1899 to 1957

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899In the archiveGold mining operation
  3. 20th century
  4. 1915Post officeThe Livengood post office opens
  5. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 153
  6. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1957Post officeThe Livengood post office closes
By decade

Livengood, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s2 items
Gold mining operation1899Gold mining operationTree fingers (near1899Tree fingers (near
1900s–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
Today4 recent
2010-07-20 14-Sign on the Elliot Highway at the junction with the Dalton Highway in20102010-07-20 14-Sign on the Elliot Highway at the junct…2010-07-20 13-Sign on the Elliot Highway just before reaching the Dalton Highway in20102010-07-20 13-Sign on the Elliot Highway just before …Downtown2009DowntownAKMap-doton-Livengood2004AKMap-doton-Livengood
On the map

Livengood on the map, 1952 to 1975

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

Livengood on the 1952 USGS mapLivengood on the 1975 USGS map1952Livengood C-4 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 Livengood.

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.

Gold mining operation
Retake this viewGold mining operation, 1899

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Livengood had its own post office from 1915 to 1957.

Livengood
1915–1957
19101970today

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

Questions about Livengood’s history

What year was Livengood founded?

The Livengood post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (6), 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.