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History · Northway

Northway’s post office opened in 1942

Most of Northway was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1950.

1942first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
9old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Northway’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Northway began

When was Northway founded?

1942

The Northway post office opened in 1942, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 196 in 19502020 census: 23484 years
Founding year: the first Northway post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Northway’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 1950 and 1970, then grew 5-fold.Lost villages4 hamlets and corners are still on the map.
★ What stands out · People over time

Northway, census by census

01002001960198020002020196 in 1950Low: 40

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1950 and 1970, then grew 5-fold.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Northway’s post office has been open since 1942.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Charlieskin VillageKathakneNorthway JunctionNorthway Village
Gone or out of use
Beaver Creeklocale
1cemetery inside Northway
Indian

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

The story so far

Northway, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Northway yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Northway (Upper Tanana: K’ehtthiign) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States, also encompassing the sites of Charlieskin Village and Kathakne. Prior to the 2020 Census, the borders of the CDP was expanded, merging with Northway Junction and Northway Village. The population was 234 at the 2020 census, up from 71 in 2010.

Its first post office opened in 1942. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 71 to 234 (+230%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Northway, 1917 to 2020

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1917In the archiveLanding Fields - Alaska
  3. 1942Post officeThe Northway post office opens
  4. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 21st century
  6. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 234
By decade

Northway, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s9 items
Landing Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - AlaskaLanding Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - AlaskaLanding Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - AlaskaLanding Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - AlaskaLanding Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - AlaskaLanding Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - AlaskaLanding Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - AlaskaLanding Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - AlaskaLanding Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - Alaska
1920s–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
Today3 recent
Northway Airport2012Northway AirportAlaska-Mongolia012011Alaska-Mongolia01AKMap-doton-Northway2004AKMap-doton-Northway
On the map

Northway on the map in 1954

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

Northway on the 1954 USGS map1954Nabesna D-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 Northway.

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.

Landing Fields - Alaska
Retake this viewLanding Fields - Alaska, 1917

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

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Northway’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLanding Fields - Alaska: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Northway’s history

What year was Northway founded?

The Northway post office opened in 1942, 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 (12), 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.