The City of Wasilla derives its name from
Chief Wasilla, a respected local Dena'ina Athabascan Indian Chief. There is some
debate about the meaning of the Chief's name. One source claims
it means "breath of air" in the Dena'ina Athabascan Indian
dialect. Other sources assert the name descended as a variation
of the Russian name "Vasili" meaning "William".
Before Anchorage was established, the settlement of
Knik had served as the transport and supply hub for the region since
the 1880's. With the founding of Anchorage in 1915 and the concurrent
building of the Alaska Railroad as an overland supply link to Fairbanks
and interior Alaska, the end was in sight for Knik.
By 1917 Knik was eclipsed by the new town of Wasilla which sprang
up that year after a government land auction at the point where
the Alaska Railroad crossed the main supply route (the Carl Wagon
Trail) for the mines in the Willow Creek Mining District now the
intersection of the George Parks Highway and Main Street. The location
of Wasilla also provided a better supply staging point for the Kantishna
Gold Mining area near Mount McKinley and mines in the Talkeetna
area.
While placer (hydraulic) and hard rock gold mining had been underway
in the Willow Creek Mining District since 1907, Wasilla prospered
from its founding the 1917 until 1940 as the self proclaimed, "Gateway
to the Willow Creek Mining District". With the exception of
the latter part of WWII this was a very active mining area between
1909 and 1950. Incomplete records indicate at least 623,874 ounces
of gold worth nearly $18 million dollars were produced at a time
when gold was valued between 20-35 dollars an ounce. Over the years
at least 50 mines and prospects have operated in this area and at
the current time there are still a few active.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s the federal government
formed the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation to set up the
Matanuska Colony for the agricultural development of Alaska. This
influx of 200 farming families and supporting services meant that
from 1935 until the 1960s, instead of Wasilla, the town of Palmer
gradually became the primary supply and service center for this
region.
Palmer remained the regional commercial center until a new Glenn
Highway bypassed Palmer allowing more direct travel from Wasilla
to Anchorage. The subsequent development of the new George Parks
Highway to Fairbanks (through Wasilla) in the early 1970s opened
opportunities for the first wave of "suburbanite" settlement.
This meant that with ever improving roads and business opportunities
Wasilla shifted from a small town and weekend destination for people
from Anchorage to a hometown for workers in Anchorage and Wasilla.
Wasilla was incorporated in 1973. The current city resident population
is some 5500 people with a conservatively estimated population of
more than 27,000 adjacent Borough residents who patronize the Wasilla
business and commercial center.
In Wasilla, major growth resulted from the 1970s and 80s Alaska
oil boom and pipeline development and by 1984 Wasilla had again
become the commercial heart of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and
for a time was the fastest growing city of its size in the United
States. By 1995 the City of Wasilla registered some 1100 business.
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