The present day city of "New" Bettles is about 5 miles east of the old settlement surrounding the Bettles Airstrip and was originally known as Evansville. It is located on the south bank of the Koyukuk River and east of where the John River flows into it. . Although the area began to be settled around World War II with the construction of the airfield, it was not entirely clear if the population figures for 1950 and 1960 were for the "New" Bettles or the old village, which still was occupied until 1997. When Bettles ceased to report after the 1960 census, the area around the airfield reported as the unincorporated village of Evansville on the 1970 census and as a census-designated place on the 1980 census. In 1985, a section of unincorporated Evansville was carved out and incorporated as the city of Bettles, and it has appeared on the U.S. Census again beginning in 1990.