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History · Point Lay

Point Lay’s post office opened in 1947

Most of Point Lay was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987.

1947first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided · Public domain
Quick answers

How Point Lay began

When was Point Lay founded?

1947

The Point Lay post office opened in 1947, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 33079 years
Founding year: the first Point Lay post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Point Lay’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Point Lay are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Point Lay’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Point Lay, in brief

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

Point Lay (Kali in Inupiaq- "Mound") is a census-designated place (CDP) in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 330, up from 189 in 2010.

Its first post office opened in 1947. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 189 to 330 (+75%).

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

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Point Lay had its own post office from 1947 to 1959.

Point Lay
1947–1959
19401980today
Gone or out of use
Kokoliklocale

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

Questions about Point Lay’s history

What year was Point Lay founded?

The Point Lay post office opened in 1947, 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 →
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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 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.