Ukpeakvik mounds site of ancient sod houses in UtqiagvikPrehistory to the 20th century

Archaeological sites in the area indicate the Iñupiat lived around Utqiagvik as far back as 500 AD. Remains of 16 sod dwelling mounds, from the Birnirk culture of about 800, can be seen on the shore of the Arctic Ocean. Located on a slight rise above the high-water mark, they are at risk of being lost to erosion.

Bill Streever who chairs the North Slope Science Initiative's Science Technical Advisory Panel, wrote in his 2009 book Cold: Adventures in the World’s Frozen Places:

Barrow, like most communities in Alaska, looks temporary, like a pioneer settlement. It is not. Barrow is among the oldest permanent settlements in the United States. Hundreds of years before the European Arctic explorers showed up... Barrow was more or less where it is now, a natural hunting place at the base of a peninsula that pokes out into the Beaufort Sea... Yankee whalers sailed here, learning about the bowhead whale from Iñupiat hunters... Later, the military came, setting up a radar station, and in 1947 a science center was founded at Barrow.[1]

British Royal Navy officers came to the area to explore and map the Arctic coastline of North America. The US acquired Alaska in 1867. The United States Army established a meteorological and magnetic research station at Utqiagvik in 1881.[2]

In 1888, a Presbyterian church was built by United States missionaries at Utqiagvik. The church is still in use today. In 1889 a whaling supply and rescue station was built. It is the oldest wood-frame building in Utqiagvik and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The rescue station was converted for use in 1896 as the retail Cape Smythe Whaling and Trading Station. In the late 20th century, the building was used as Brower's Cafe.

20th century to the present

A United States Post Office was opened in 1901.

 Will Rogers–Wiley Post Memorial Iñupiaq child at Point Barrow c. 1960s

In 1935, famous humorist Will Rogers and pilot Wiley Post made an unplanned stop at Walakpa Bay, 15 mi (24 km) south of Utqiagvik, en route to the city. As they took off again, their plane stalled and plunged into a river killing them both. Two memorials have been erected at the location which is now called the Rogers–Post Site. Another memorial is located in Utqiagvik, where the airport was renamed as the Wiley Post–Will Rogers Memorial Airport in their honor.[3]

In 1940, the indigenous Iñupiat organized as the Native Village of Barrow Iñupiat Traditional Government (previously, Native Village of Barrow), which is a federally recognized Alaska Native Iñupiat "tribal entity", as listed by the US Bureau of Indian Affairs around 2003. They wrote a constitution and by-laws, under the provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934. An IRA corporation was also created.

Utqiagvik was incorporated as a first-class city under the name Barrow in 1958. Natural gas lines were brought to the town in 1965, eliminating traditional heating sources such as whale blubber.[4]

The Barrow Duck-In was a civil disobedience event that occurred in the spring of 1961.[5] During the Duck-in, the Iñupiat protested a federal hunting ban on ducks, which threatened their livelihood and rights to food security.

The residents of the North Slope were the only Native people to vote on acceptance of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act; they rejected it. The act was passed in December 1971, and despite their opposition, became law. The Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation is the for-profit village corporation established under the act.

In 1972, the North Slope Borough was established. The borough has built sanitation facilities, water and electrical utilities, roads, and fire departments, and established health and educational services in Utqiagvik and the villages of the North Slope with millions of dollars in new revenues from the settlement and later oil revenues.

In 1986, the North Slope Borough created the North Slope Higher Education Center. Renamed Iḷisaġvik College, it is an accredited two-year college providing education which is based on the Iñupiat culture and the needs of the North Slope Borough.

The Tuzzy Consortium Library, in the Iñupiat Heritage Center, serves the communities of the North Slope Borough and functions as the academic library for Iḷisaġvik College. The library was named after Evelyn Tuzroyluk Higbee, an important leader in the community.

 Traditional clothing at Iñupiat Heritage Center in Utqiagvik

Utqiagvik, like many communities in Alaska has enacted a "damp" law, prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages. However, the import, possession, and consumption of such beverages is still allowed.[6]

In 1988, Utqiagvik became the center of worldwide media attention when three California gray whales became trapped in the ice offshore.[7] After a two-week rescue effort (Operation Breakthrough), a Soviet icebreaker freed two of the whales.[8] Journalist Tom Rose details the rescue and the media frenzy that accompanied it, in his 1989 book Freeing The Whales.[9] The movie Big Miracle is based on the rescue and was released on February 3, 2012.[10][11]