Knik

Overview

The port the railroad passed by

Knik stood on the west shore of Knik Arm, at the head of Cook Inlet, on the site of a Dena'ina village. The census of 1880 counted 46 people there, and the trader George Palmer, for whom the town of Palmer is named, kept a store. The Cook Inlet gold rush of the 1890s and the Willow Creek district, organized in 1898, turned the village into a town. Freight came up the inlet to Knik, and from there dog-sled trails in winter and wagon trails in summer ran to the mines. After the Iditarod strike of 1908 and 1909, much of that district's gold came out through Knik by dog team.

By 1915 about 500 people lived here. Sources list four stores, four hotels, three saloons, a movie house, a barbershop, a pool hall, a jail, two doctors, two dentists, a school and a weekly paper. Then the government routed the new Alaska Railroad 13 miles to the northeast. Its tracks reached Wasilla by 1917, and Knik's businesses moved to Wasilla or Anchorage. People abandoned their homes or moved them, and most buildings were hauled away or salvaged for lumber. The post office closed in 1917, and by 1919 only Palmer's store was left.

Today two historic buildings stand. One is Knik Hall, built in 1910 as the Fulton-Hirshey pool hall and later a roadhouse. Since 1967 it has been the Knik Museum, and it also houses the Mushers' Hall of Fame. The rest of the townsite is gone, and the USGS maps show homes and subdivisions spreading around it since the 1970s.

Timeline

From Dena'ina village to museum

1. 1880The census counts 46 Athabascan people at the village, then called New Knik; the older village, Old Knik, was at today's Eklutna across the arm. Senior Voice says trader George W. Palmer opens a store here in 1880; Sketches of Alaska says he moved here in the 1880s from a village called Kinik, near the Knik River.
2. 1882The Alaska Commercial Company opens a trading post, per Senior Voice.
3. 1895–1898The Cook Inlet gold rush brings prospectors. The Willow Creek mining district is organized in 1898, and Knik becomes its supply point. Wikipedia dates the town from 1898.
4. 1902–1904A post office opens. Senior Voice gives 1904; another account says Palmer held the mail contract and was postmaster from 1902.
5. 1908–1909Gold is found in the Iditarod country, about 375 miles northwest. Much of its gold later comes out by dog team through Knik.
6. 1910The Fulton-Hirshey pool and billiard hall is built. It survives as Knik Hall.
7. 1913–1915Knik's peak: about 500 people, with stores, hotels, saloons, a movie house, a pool hall, a school and a weekly paper, the Knik News.
8. 1915–1917The Alaska Railroad is routed 13 miles to the northeast. Its tracks reach Wasilla by 1917. Businesses move to Wasilla or Anchorage, and most buildings are moved away or salvaged. The post office closes in 1917.
9. 1919The town is deserted except for Palmer's store, per another account.
10. 1967Knik Hall, donated by Lois Bjorn Birdsall, is rehabilitated and opens as a museum.
11. July 24, 1973The Knik Site, about 9 acres, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On the ground

Knik Hall and the old townsite

Of the town in the photos on this page, Sketches of Alaska says only two buildings remain. Knik Hall is the one visitors can enter. The Wasilla-Knik Historical Society calls it the last commercial building left in Knik. Its grounds have a piece of the Iditarod National Historic Trail to walk, a picnic area by the Joe Redington Sr. Memorial Garden and the Mushers' Hall of Fame, with exhibits on early mushers' dogs. A log cabin also stands on the site, which Wikipedia names as the other surviving remnant.

The historic maps below show the town fading into a suburb. The 1951 Anchorage sheet marks Knik on the shore of Knik Arm, with Knik Lake behind it and the Iditarod Trail heading west. The 1965 sheet shows a few buildings at Knik by the lake and the trail. The 1979 sheet, at a larger scale, marks a cemetery on the south shore of Knik Lake and graves by the road, and the 1994 sheet labels the Knik Museum and Mushers Hall of Fame beside the road, the cemetery and a new subdivision on Horizon Drive to the north. Ask at the museum before walking to the cemetery; we don't know who owns it.

• Knik Hall (1910), the Knik Museum and Mushers' Hall of Fame
• A log cabin, the other surviving building
• A stretch of the Iditarod National Historic Trail
• A cemetery by Knik Lake (on USGS maps)
• The shore of Knik Arm where the docks stood

Historic maps

Knik on USGS maps, 1951–1994

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19511:250,00019651:63,36019791:25,00019941:63,360

Map & directions

Getting there

Knik is on Knik-Goose Bay Road, about 14 miles southwest of Wasilla. Both routes end at the townsite by the museum.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Knik in photos

Knik Hall, the 1910 pool hall that is now the Knik Museum, May 2009A Knik street with the Knik Pool Room sign, about 1914Log and frame buildings on an unpaved street, about 1914The Knik waterfront and docks from the bluff, about 1914A two-masted schooner at the Knik dock, about 1914Buildings with a sign reading The Railroad Kitchen, about 1914Rooftops above the shore street, about 1914Salmon drying on lines at a settlement near Knik, about 1914A log cabin on the townsite, the other surviving building, September 2014

Visitor reports

Been to Knik?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Knik

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Alaska index.

• Independence Mine27.3 mi NE · Matanuska-Susitna
• Kern43.8 mi SE · Anchorage
• Portage49.6 mi SE · Anchorage
• Curry80.5 mi N · Matanuska-Susitna
• Portlock169.6 mi SW · Kenai Peninsula
• Chitina174.6 mi E · Valdez-Cordova
• Katalla195.9 mi SE · Valdez-Cordova
• Kennecott225.8 mi E · Copper River

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Knik Site", retrieved October 2026: coordinates, the Dena'ina name, 1898 founding, the railroad bypass, the surviving roadhouse and cabin, the 1973 listing.
2. ghosttowns.com, "Knik", read October 2026: fact sheet (cemeteries among the remains), about 500 people by 1915, Palmer's mail contract from 1902, the town deserted by 1919.
3. Sketches of Alaska, "Knik, Alaska: Little survives of early Cook Inlet commercial center", April 27, 2017: the 1880 census, Palmer, the gold rushes and Iditarod gold, businesses about 1915, the railroad, two surviving buildings, Knik Hall from 1910 and the 1967 rehabilitation.
4. Laurel Downing Bill, "Surprising history of once-booming Alaska town", Senior Voice, June 1, 2023: Palmer's 1880 store, the 1882 trading post, the 1898 district, the 1914 businesses, post office 1904 to 1917.
5. Wasilla-Knik Historical Society, "Knik Museum", read October 29, 2026: hours, season, admission, address, the pool hall and the museum grounds.
6. Wasilla-Knik Historical Society, read October 29, 2026: Knik Hall as one of two remaining historic buildings, the dog sled and wagon trails.
7. Rindi White, "Historic Knik set to celebrate its 100th anniversary", Anchorage Daily News, July 14, 2010: the 1880 census of New Knik, and Old Knik at today's Eklutna.
8. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited below each one. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• Knik Hall, the 1910 pool hall that is now the Knik Museum, May 2009: Bryan Pryce, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• A Knik street with the Knik Pool Room sign, about 1914: Phinney S. Hunt, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Log and frame buildings on an unpaved street, about 1914: Phinney S. Hunt, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• The Knik waterfront and docks from the bluff, about 1914: Phinney S. Hunt, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• A two-masted schooner at the Knik dock, about 1914: Phinney S. Hunt, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Buildings with a sign reading The Railroad Kitchen, about 1914: Phinney S. Hunt, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Rooftops above the shore street, about 1914: Phinney S. Hunt, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Salmon drying on lines at a settlement near Knik, about 1914: Phinney S. Hunt, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• A log cabin on the townsite, the other surviving building, September 2014: Cherime MacFarlane, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Anchorage 1951, 1:250,000; Anchorage B-8 1965, 1:63,360; Anchorage B-8 NE 1979, 1:25,000; Anchorage B-8 1994, 1:63,360.