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History · Platinum

Platinum’s post office opened in 1935

Most of Platinum was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1940.

1935first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Platinum’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Platinum began

When was Platinum founded?

1935

The Platinum post office opened in 1935, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1975.

First census: 45 in 19402020 census: 5591 years
Founding year: the first Platinum post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1975.The full story ↓

What stands out about Platinum’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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Platinum’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewTheb1934 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Platinum came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Platinum.

Read it all →

Platinum was named in the 1930s due to the platinum ore found in the area. The site was a mining boomtown by 1937 boasting a roadhouse, two trading posts and a population of 50. A post office had been established in 1935. An earlier Inuit village called Arviq had been abandoned. The town was incorporated as a city in 1975.

Ray Petersen Flying Service was awarded the exclusive contract in 1937 to fly for the Goodnews Bay platinum and iridium mine, hauling miners and company supplies out of his base at Bethel, Alaska.

During World War II, the Alaska Territorial Guard served to safeguard it against Japanese attack as it was the only source of the strategic metal platinum in the Western Hemisphere.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Platinum, 1935 to 1954

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1935Post officeThe Platinum post office opens
  3. 1939In the archivePlatinum Alaska geologic map
  4. 1948In the archiveTheb1934 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library
  5. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Platinum, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s–1940s2 items
Platinum Alaska geologic map1939Platinum Alaska geologic mapMapTheb1934 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library1948Theb1934 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library
1950s–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

Platinum on the map in 1954

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

Platinum on the 1954 USGS map1954Goodnews Bay A-8 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 Platinum.

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.

Theb1934 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library
Retake this viewTheb1934 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library, 1948

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Platinum, census by census

019401960198020002020Peak: 72

Between 41 and 72 people in every census since 1940.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners

Platinum’s post office has been open since 1935.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Goodnews Mining Camp

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

Questions about Platinum’s history

What year was Platinum founded?

The Platinum post office opened in 1935, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1975.

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 (2), 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.