Wasilla Wedding

Wasilla is a city in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 5,470. The 2004 estimate gives the city a population of 7,740, making it the largest city in the borough.

The history of Wasilla begins with the history of Knik, the first boom town in the Mat-Su Valley, which by 1915 boasted a population of 500. The town served the early fur trappers and miners working the gold fields at Cache Creek and Willow Creek.

Wasilla was established in 1917 with the construction of the Alaska Railroad. Wasillas proximity to the gold fields and railroad service lured Knik residents to relocate in the new town-some of them even dragging their homes and businesses with them. In a few short years, Knik became a ghost town. The current townsite was established in 1917 at the intersection of the Knik-Willow mining trail and the newly constructed Alaska Railroad. It was a supply base for gold, notably at Hatcher Pass, and coal mining in the region through World War II.

The town of Wasilla was incorporated in 1974.