The History of Galena, Alaska

The Yukon River near Galena has been the home for the Koyukon Athabascan people for thousands of years. The modern history of Galena begins in 1918, when miners seeking lead set up a supply depot near an Athabascan fish camp they called Henry’s Point. Galena is a common mineral found with lead and silver ore.

In 1920, Athabascans living upriver at Louden starting moving to the supply depot to sell wood for steamboats and haul freight for the miners. A school was established in the mid-1920s. The community became an important staging area for the Lend Lease program in World War II supplying Russia with planes and arms. After the war, the Air Force expanded the airport and created a base in Galena. During the Cold War, the Galena Air Force Station became a forward operating base for the 5072nd Air Force Group, and planes regularly scrambled out of Galena to confront Soviet fighters testing the border with the United States. Even though the base was closed in 1993, it is still used by the military for training.

The Galena Interior Learning Academy now occupies the site of the base. Galena used to be located solely on the southern edge of the Air Force base, but  floods in the spring of 1971 led residents to create another residential area along Alexander Lake, about two miles from the base. Most of the community now lives in the “new town” area. The original part of Galena is sometimes called “old town” or “downtown.”  

The community has a radio station, KIYU, a public swimming pool, a community hall, a new clinic and city hall, a police department, a volunteer fire department, a sled dog association, two churches, an elementary school, and a community high school. According to the latest estimate, there were 612 year-round residents in Galena, not counting those working and attending the boarding school.