A BRIEF
HISTORY
In 1901 Capt. E.T. Barnette established a trading post on the Chena
River. A settlement
grew and was eventually named after Senator Charles Fairbanks of Indiana.
The population
at that time was primarily Native with a sparse company of non-Natives,
approximately
5,600 total. Gold was discovered in 1902 about 16 miles north of the
post. This discovery swelled the non-Native population by almost 10,660 bringing the sum to
13,064 by 1910.
During World War I, gold mining in the Interior and the population was
noticeably declining.
The construction of transportation and shipping systems for goods and
supplies established
the Alaska Railroad System about 1914.
Ladd Field (now Fort Wainwright Army Base) was constructed in 1938
followed by the
Alcan Highway in the 1940's. This promoted the influx of military
population to the Fairbanks
area. Records show that in 1940 the military count in the Interior was
10. The strategic
location of both Ft. Wainwright and Eielson Air Force Base (known then
as Satellite Field, a secret airfield built just prior to World War II) had a direct affect
on the surge in military
personnel in the area. By 1950 the military personnel rose to 5,419.
This was in addition
to a civilian population of 17,589.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough was established on January 1, 1964, by
an act of the
Alaska State Legislature. Including both the cities of Fairbanks and
North Pole, it encompasses
7,361 square miles (4.7 million acres), making it the fourth largest
borough in the state.
Although our land area has remained static our population has grown at a
steady pace.
The number of people in the Fairbanks area in 1880 was approximately
2,568 then grew
to 51,300 in 1968. Oil discovery on the North Slope brought economic
expansion to new
heights in the late 1960's. The Borough population increased by 31.4%
between the 1960
and 1980, and 53.5% from 1980 to 2000 according to the U.S. Census
Bureau. The total
population in the Fairbanks North Star Borough was 82,840 in 2000 as
released by the U.S.
Census Bureau.
Although Fairbanks has seen both boom and bust, we remain strong and
resilient. The
State of Alaska, Department of Labor has produced a table of population
projections for
the Fairbanks North Star Borough showing growth to reach as high as
104,533 by the year 2018. |
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