Ester is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. It is part of the Fairbanks, Alaska Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, Ester had a population of 2,416. Although there are only around 12 houses located inside of the village, the rest are in the surrounding area. The Ester Camp Historic District is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Ester was founded as a gold mining camp in the early 1900s, and the economy has focused on mining and services for miners. The Ester Volunteer Fire Department, John Trigg Ester Library, Ester Historic Society and Ester Post Office serve residents in Ester and surrounding areas. There is also a convenience store and secular chapel on the outskirts of the village. Many artists, writers, and musicians reside in Ester.
Ester in geological and prehistoric time The hydraulic mining technique of directing high pressurized streams of water onto the land to uncover gold revealed that Ester had rich deposits of fossils and bones of prehistoric animals. In the 1950s, Walter Wigger, who owned the Ester Creek Gold Mine, discovered a 198-pound mammoth tusk along Ester Creek.Ernie Carver Photographs. (1950-1969). Alaska and Polar Region Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks. http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/cdmg11/id/15955/rec/9 Images taken by tourists during the 1940s provide visual evidence of prehistoric animal remains, such as tusks, skulls, and large leg bones that were washed out by the process of stripping.Eby, Shelland, and Stark tourist papers. (1939-40). University of Alaska Anchorage. http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/cdmg13/id/12134/rec/8
History Early history and founding Ester was originally a gold mining camp on Ester Creek, with the first claim staked in February 1903 by Latham A. Jones. Jones worked with the Eagle Mining Company, the biggest claimholder on Glen Gulch in the Rampart mining district, but it was an independent miner, John "Jack" Mihalcik, a Czechoslovak immigrant born in 1866, who was the first person to actually discover gold in Ester Creek. Mihalcik staked his claim in November 1903 but the news of the discovery of gold did not become public until the following February. By 1907, Ester City had a population of around 200 people, with a thriving mining industry. A social hall was completed in 1907 and was well-known throughout the mining district for its dance floor. The hall was used for religious services as well as dances, movies, card games, parties, and other entertainment purposes. The town had five saloons and two hotels. In 1908 and 1910, the hall was the site of campaign speeches by candidates for the seat of Territorial Delegate. (Labor won in 1908, but Judge James Wickersham won the Ester precinct in 1910.) By 1909, Ester City had a baseball field, a doctor, a mine workers' union local, and a teacher, but gold production was beginning to decline.
The Berry Post Office moved in 1910 from near the Berry brothers' claim about two miles downstream from Ester City into J.C. Kinney's general store in Ester. The post office retained the name of Berry until 1965, when it was finally changed to that of the town it had been in for 55 years. In the mid-1920s, the Fairbanks Exploration Company began buying claims on Ester Creek, started operations in 1929, and in 1933 built a mess hall for their camp in Ester. The buildings are now a historic landmark used until 2008 as a tourist attraction, restaurant, and hotel. The F.E. Company revitalized the town, reshaping it to do large-scale open-pit mining using enormous floating dredges and draglines. In the process, much of the original sites of Berry and Ester were removed.
Since 1940 In 1941, the Ester Community Association was founded in 1941. In 1958, The F.E. Company sold their Ester camp, and it reopened under new management as a historic resort. The Cripple Creek Resort, which later became the Ester Gold Camp, featured a musical variety show including Robert W. Service's poetry, held the Malemute Saloon, a local bar, featuring Service's poem, "The Shooting of Dan McGrew", until the resort closed in 2007. The Malemute Saloon continues to operate on selected weekends during the summer, and often features live music by local bands. In 1974, the Ester Volunteer Fire Department was officially founded after nearly a century of bucket brigades. Gold mining continued on a small scale. In 1986, the Ester Community Association, working with the Fairbanks North Star Borough, built the Ester Community Park, which became a local center of social activity. In 2017, the Ester Community Association purchased the park from a local resident, holding chili feeds, music festivals, and other fundraising events.
In 1987, the eleven surviving buildings of the F.E. Company's camp were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. with
In 1988, Mushing magazine began publication in Ester and continued to be produced and published there until it was sold in 2005. The town became the site of a sled dog stage race between Ester and Nenana and back again, the Fireplug Sled Dog Race, which was held for ten years, from 1990 to 2001, and in which many famous mushers participated, including Dean Seibold and Jeff King. In January 1999, the town's first newspaper, The Ester Republic, was founded by Deirdre Helferrich; it was published regularly until 2015, and now is published sporadically. In August 1999, the John Trigg Ester Library (JTEL) opened a library named after a local resident who had started a book exchange in a nearby bar. In 2012, the JTEL received a donation of a local log cabin built in the 1940s and relocated many of its holdings to the new space. Today, the village features two saloons, five publishers, a library, a community hall, a secular chapel, a post office with its own zip code (99725), silversmiths and other artisans, numerous art studios, about two dozen homes, most of which were built by their owners, and three active gold mines. There is a fire station, a small store, and a secular chapel on the outskirts of the village.
The Ester Historic Society was founded in 2018. Its collection was donated by local residents and contains historical photographs, letters, and other documents. Along with the John Trigg Ester Library, the Ester Historic Society hosts talks and book readings about Ester and the surrounding area.
Geography Ester is located at (64.855700, -147.978434).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.08%, is water.
Ester Community Park
Ester has a well-used park, maintained and improved by the Ester Community Association's Park Committee and other volunteers from the community. The park has an ice rink that doubles as a basketball court in the summer, a children's playground, a picnic pavilion, a stage, and a soccer field. The park, situated next to the Ester Volunteer Fire Department, is the site of numerous soccer games, Ester Football League games, broomball, the Fourth of July picnic, musical gatherings, and other events throughout the year. In the summer, there is a farmers' market on Thursday evenings where local farmers and gardeners sell their goods. In 2017, the Ester Community Association purchased the park from a local landowner.
The village square Ester village wraps around a square at the foot of Ester Lump, the name of a bump on the side of Ester Dome. This "town square" is actually the parking lot of the Golden Eagle Saloon, divided in two sections by Main Street, but functions as a focal point and central gathering place during celebrations such as the Fourth of July and New Year's Eve. Private residences, the John Trigg Ester Library, and the Golden Eagle Saloon surround the square.
Tailings Due to the mining in the area, Ester is currently surrounded by piles of gravel and dirt tailings.
Climate Ester has a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc).
Economy The local saw has it that "Ester is still around because there is a McDonald's in Fairbanks." This is true both culturally and economically. Many Ester residents are employed in Fairbanks or at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, although there are many small Ester-area businesses and self-employed people. The largest Ester employers are seasonal, with Judie Gumm Designs, and the local mines as the businesses with the most employees. Fairbanks provides a market for Ester products and services and thus helps to keep the small Ester economy alive. Because Fairbanks acts as a draw (due to its larger market and resources) for such things as big-box stores and fast food chains, Ester has been able to retain its mining village feel. This is important to Ester's tourist economy, which capitalizes on the status of the gold camp buildings as a historic landmark. In fall 2007, the owners of the Ester Gold Camp (Malemute, Inc.) announced that they would not reopen the resort in 2008, but do open the camp bar (the Malemute Saloon) for a 30-day period each summer to retain the liquor license. This has had an effect on Ester's summer economy, and resulted in the closure of at least two shops, in anticipation of the dearth of tourists.
In response to the closure of the Gold Camp, a group of local business owners have formed the EMCE (or Ester Ministry of Community Enterprise), which has been accepted as an ad hoc committee of the Ester Community Association, to support Ester-area businesses and craftspeople. The EMCE occasionally sponsors a local open-air farmers' market, and a Planting Day to beautify the village.
Demographics
Ester first appeared on the 1910 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village (erroneously as "Esther"). It did not appear again until 1940 and has reported on each successive census. In 1980, it was made a census-designated place (CDP).
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Ester had a population of 2,416. The median age was 36.8 years. 18.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 14.4% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 117.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 121.0 males age 18 and over.
39.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 60.1% lived in rural areas.
There were 1,106 households in Ester, of which 20.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 36.3% were married-couple households, 30.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 23.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 42.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 1,300 housing units, of which 14.9% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.4% and the rental vacancy rate was 12.1%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 1,937 80.2% Black or African American 27 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native 188 7.8% Asian 30 1.2% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 7 0.3% Some other race 25 1.0% Two or more races 202 8.4% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 81 3.4%
2010 census As of the census of 2010, there were 2,422 people, 727 households, and 534 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 1,229 housing units at an average density of . The racial/ethnic makeup of the CDP was 84.6% White, 2.1% Black or African American, 6.7% Alaska Native or Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 0.6% from other races, and 4.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.3% of the population.