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History · Tetlin

Tetlin’s post office opened in 1930

Most of Tetlin was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1948 on, and the census since 1940.

1930first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Tetlin’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Tetlin began

When was Tetlin founded?

1930

The Tetlin post office opened in 1930, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 66 in 19402020 census: 12696 years
Founding year: the first Tetlin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Tetlin’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 Tetlin’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Tetlin’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 viewLanding Fields - Alaska - Teller throug…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Tetlin came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Tetlin.

Read it all →

The semi-nomadic Athabascan Indians have historically lived in this area, moving with the seasons between several hunting and fishing camps. In 1885, Lt. H.T. Allen found small groups of people living in Tetlin and Last Tetlin, to the south. The residents of Last Tetlin had made numerous to trading posts on the Yukon River. In 1912, the villagers from Tetlin would trade at the Tanana Crossing Trading Post. During the Chisana gold stampede in 1913, a trading post was established across the river from Tetlin. When two trading posts were opened in the village during the 1920s by John Hajdukovich and W.H. Newton, residents from Last Tetlin relocated to Tetlin. A school was constructed in 1929, and a post office was opened in 1932. The 786,000-acre (3,180 km2) Tetlin Indian Reserve was established in 1930. An airstrip was constructed in 1946. When the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act(ANCS…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Tetlin, 1917 to 1966

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 - Teller through Ungalic
  3. 1930Post officeThe Tetlin post office opens
  4. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1966Post officeThe Tetlin post office closes
By decade

Tetlin, decade by decade

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

1910s2 items
Landing Fields - Alaska - Teller through Ungalic1917Landing Fields - Alaska - Teller through UngalicLanding Fields - Alaska - Teller through Ungalic1917Landing Fields - Alaska - Teller through Ungalic
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
Today1 recent
Village of2013Village of
On the map

Tetlin on the map, 1948 to 1952

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

Tetlin on the 1948 USGS mapTetlin on the 1952 USGS map1948Tanacross A-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 Tetlin.

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 - Teller through Ungalic
Retake this viewLanding Fields - Alaska - Teller through Ungalic, 1917

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Tetlin, census by census

010019401960198020002020Peak: 127

Between 66 and 127 people in every census since 1940.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Tetlin had its own post office from 1930 to 1966.

Tetlin
1930–1966
19301980today
Gone or out of use
Nandelllocale

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

Questions about Tetlin’s history

What year was Tetlin founded?

The Tetlin post office opened in 1930, 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 (3), 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.