Chena, Alaska

For the modern town sometimes known by the name of Chena, see Chena Hot Springs, Alaska.

Chena, Alaska
Ghost Town
View of Chena on the Tanana River, 1907
View of Chena on the Tanana River, 1907
Chena is located in Alaska
Chena
Chena
Location in the U.S. state of Alaska
Coordinates (USGS GNIS 1893892): 64°47′44″N 147°57′06″W / 64.79556°N 147.95167°W / 64.79556; -147.95167
CountryUnited States
StateAlaska
BoroughFairbanks North Star
Elevation
[1]
430 ft (131 m)
Time zoneUTC-9 (Alaska (AKST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-8 (AKDT)
ZIP code
99709
Area code907
GNIS feature ID1893892

Chena was a former city in interior Alaska, located in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States, near the confluence of the Chena and Tanana rivers. It incorporated in 1903 and was disincorporated in 1973.[2] The area is now part of the outskirts of Fairbanks, within the CDP of Chena Ridge. Its heyday was in the first two decades of the 20th century, with a peak population of about 400 in 1907. By 1910 the population had fallen to 138.[3]

The city was fairly prosperous for a time, and even had its own newspaper, the Tanana Miner, which later was purchased by the Fairbanks Daily News (now the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner), running concurrently with it for a time. Other businesses included two hotels, two general stores, a bakery, a laundry, and two restaurants. By 1910, Chena had a police department, a public school, churches, and a fire department. By 1915, however, the population had dropped to 50. With the death of the city's last business owner, grocer Harry Beldon, in 1920, the population had dropped to only 18. The town gradually faded away, resurging in modern times as a suburb of Fairbanks.

The Tanana Valley Railroad had its southern terminus in Chena, but moved its general manager's office to Fairbanks in 1915. There was a pump station to provide water for the hydraulic mining operations on the other side of Chena Ridge, near Ester. The Chena Pump House is now a restaurant and tourist attraction.

  1. ^ "Chena". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
  2. ^ "City Governments in Alaska that been dissolved or otherwise ceased to exist" (PDF). State of Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. April 29, 2015.
  3. ^ Farm Journal Complete World Atlas, 1912 Edition, p. 195