Anvik has historically been an Ingalik Indian village. It has been known as American Station, Anvic, Anvick, Anvig, Anvig Station, and Anwig. The Russian Glazanov reported it having 100 people in 1834. Originally it was on other side of the river, to the northeast, at a place called the point. Residents gradually moved across the river with the establishment of an Episcopal mission and school in 1887. A post office opened in 1897. After the flu epidemic of 1918-19, and another in 1927, many orphans became wards of the mission. Some children came from as far away as Fort Yukon. Sternwheelers carried supplies to the village in the early 1920s. Some residents had contracts to cut wood for the sternwheeler's fuel, and fish and furs were sold to traders. The early 1930s brought the first arrival of a plane on skis.
To Community Histories Index Alaska DCCED Community Database Online
History and map graphic used with permission from the Alaska Department of Community and Economic Development