Fairbanks

Town in central Alaska, USA, situated on the Chena Slough, a tributary of the Tanana River; population (2000) 30,200. The second-largest city in the state, it functions as a service centre for the mineral development of central and northern Alaska. Founded in 1902, it became a gold-mining and fur-trading centre and the terminus of the Alaska Railroad and the Pan-American Highway.

Fort Wainwright, Eielson Air Force Base, and the main campus of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks (1917), are outside the city limits. Fairbanks is named after a former vice-president, Charles W Fairbanks.