Wasilla

History

Glacial ice sheets covered most of the northern hemisphere during the last glacial period, between 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago, until they disappeared between 10,000 and about 7,000 years ago. Early humans moved through the area and left evidence of their passage. In 1917, the U.S. government planned the Alaska Railroad to intersect the Carle Wagon Road (present Wasilla-Fishhook Road) which connected Knik and the mines. Local businesses and residents rushed to buy land nearby, and Knik declined. Wasilla Station was named for the nearby Wasilla Creek. Local miners used the name "Wasilla Creek", referring to Wassila, a chief of the Dena'ina. There are two sources cited for the name, one being derived from a Dena'ina word meaning "breath of air" while another stating Dena'ina derived it from the Russian name . As Knik declined into a ghost town, Wasilla served early fur trappers and miners working the gold fields at Cache Creek and Willow Creek. More than 200 farm families from the Upper Midwest were moved into the Matanuska and Susitna valleys in 1935 as part of a U.S. government program to start a new farming community to counteract this trend; their linguistic influence is still audible in the region. The area was a supply base for gold mines near Hatcher Pass through World War II. Until construction of the George Parks Highway around 1970, nearby Palmer was the leading city in the Matanuska Valley. Wasilla was at the end of the Palmer-Wasilla highway and the road to Big Lake provided access to land west of Wasilla. The Parks Highway put Wasilla at mile 40–42 of what became the major highway and railroad transportation corridor linking Southcentral Alaska to Interior Alaska. As a result, population growth and community development shifted from the Palmer area…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 12.4 square miles (. Of that, 11.7 square miles (30.4 km2) is land and (5.64%) is water. Located near Wasilla Lake and Lake Lucille, Wasilla is one of two towns in the Matanuska Valley. The community surrounds Mi. 39–46 of the George Parks Highway, roughly by highway northeast of Anchorage. Nearly one third of the people of Wasilla drive the 40-minute commute to work in Anchorage every day. Six miles to the southeast is Mount POW/MIA. Wasilla has a climate similar to that of Anchorage, classified as a subarctic climate (Dfc) by Köppen-Geiger climate classification, although with slightly warmer daytime maxima and colder nighttime minima due to its inland location. On average, over the course of the entire year, there are 30–31 days of sub- lows, 37–38 days of + highs, and 1.4 days of + highs. The average annual precipitation is , with of snowfall.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,383
• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  2,123
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,743
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,670
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,607
• Bald Eagle

  Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,500
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,351
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,303

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2026-09-30
  7 km WSW of Willow, Alaska
• M 2.7 — 2026-09-28
  22 km SSW of Susitna, Alaska
• M 2.5 — 2026-09-28
  23 km SSW of Susitna, Alaska
• M 2.9 — 2026-09-27
  16 km NW of Fishhook, Alaska
• M 2.9 — 2026-09-27
  24 km WSW of Point MacKenzie, Alaska
• M 3.7 — 2026-09-24
  14 km SSE of Susitna North, Alaska