This web site serves as a reference, information, and entertainment resource for citizens of - and visitors to! - the town of Chena, Alaska.
Scroll down to find useful maps, an index of local businesses, and learn about the history of our little haven! Residents can also register to have their OWN PERSONAL WEBPAGE hosted on this Web Portal! Visit the public services office in the Chena Community Center any weekday during business hours.
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A view of Chena in 1907. Our town was quite different back then! Most familiar houses are missing, the riverside is geared toward cargo instead of tourism, and several buildings are missing here, including the community center! On top of that, the skyline of Fairbanks is nowhere to be seen!
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Chena was incorporated in 1903 in the midst of the Fairbanks Gold Rush, having sprung up on the shores of the Tanana River to supply the mines that were popping up left and right in the formerly sparsely-settled area. Initially serving as a hub for the transport of supplies to Fairbanks by river, the beginnings of a railroad in 1905 (expanded to the famous Tanana Valley Railroad in 1907) gave it a leg-up over the town that would one day become the capitol of an independent Alaska. This was an early high point for our town, prompting the construction of a school, firehouse, hospital, dance hall (which would later become the first incarnation of our Community Center), and a state-of-the-art power plant. Several newspapers even came and went, including one that would later become the widely distributed Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and the staunchly local River Times, which was published from 1906-1921, 1945-1959, 1973, and may yet make a comeback in the coming years!
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Chena Superhero Comics — Now a locally-owned business!
No one here... yet!
No one here... yet!
No one here... yet!
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