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History · Talkeetna

Talkeetna’s post office opened in 1916, and 3 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Talkeetna was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. 3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 12 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1920.

1916first post office
3on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Talkeetna’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Talkeetna began

When was Talkeetna founded?

1916

The Talkeetna post office opened in 1916, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 70 in 19202020 census: 1,055110 years
Founding year: the first Talkeetna post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Talkeetna’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 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1940 and 1960, then grew more than tenfold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Talkeetna’s collection

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

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

Talkeetna, census by census

02004006008001,000192019401960198020002020136 in 1940Low: 76

Lost a third of its people between 1940 and 1960, then grew more than tenfold.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story so far

Talkeetna, in brief

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

Talkeetna (Dena'ina: K'dalkitnu) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 census the entire CDP's population was 1,055, up from 876 in 2010.

Its first post office opened in 1916. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 876 to 1,055 (+20%).

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

Timeline

Talkeetna, 1916 to 2020

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1916In the archiveAlaska Engineering Commission buildings and tents at Talkeetna, Alaska, September 16, 1916
  3. 1916Post officeThe Talkeetna post office opens
  4. 1923BuiltFairview Inn is built
  5. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1975Born hereKaleb Stewart is born here
  7. 21st century
  8. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 1,055
By decade

Talkeetna, decade by decade

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

1910s4 items
Alaska Engineering Commission buildings and tents at Talkeetna, Alaska, September 16, 19161916Alaska Engineering Commission buildings and tents at …Alaska Engineering Commission tents with town of Talkeetna, Alaska in background, between 1911 and 1921c. 1916Alaska Engineering Commission tents with town of Talk…Boat laden with cargo arriving at Talkeetna, Alaska, 19171917Boat laden with cargo arriving at Talkeetna, Alaska, …Buildings and tents in the town of Talkeetna, Alaska, between 1912 and 1922c. 1917Buildings and tents in the town of Talkeetna, 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
Today7 recent
KTNA - Community Radio2006KTNA - Community RadioK2 flightseeing Alaska 20052005K2 flightseeing Alaska 2005Talkeetna Roadhouse interior photograph2004Talkeetna Roadhouse interior photographAKMap-doton-Talkeetna2004AKMap-doton-TalkeetnaRV02Interior152002RV02Interior15RV02Interior132002RV02Interior13Cache 132002Cache 13
On the map

Talkeetna on the map, 1951 to 1994

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

Talkeetna on the 1951 USGS mapTalkeetna on the 1987 USGS mapTalkeetna on the 1994 USGS map1951Talkeetna B-1 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 Talkeetna.

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 Engineering Commission buildings and tents at Talkeetna, Alaska, September 16, 1916
Retake this viewAlaska Engineering Commission buildings and tents at Talkeetna, Alaska, September 16, 1916, 1916

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 listings protect 13 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
13
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Fairview Inn
Fairview Inn, built 1923Talkeetna Historic DistrictTalkeetna Airstrip
BuildingsDistrictsStructures
Fairview InnBuilt 1923
Talkeetna Historic DistrictDistrict
Talkeetna AirstripStructure

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Old corners

Talkeetna’s post office has been open since 1916.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Fish Lake

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

ChaseIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSusitna North1 historic placeC+

Questions about Talkeetna’s history

What year was Talkeetna founded?

The Talkeetna post office opened in 1916, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Talkeetna?

Three places: the Fairview Inn (listed 1982), the Talkeetna Historic District (1993) and the Talkeetna Airstrip (2002).

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 (11), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.