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History · Akhiok

Akhiok was first counted by the census in 1880, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Akhiok was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Its Register listing is the Protection of the Theotokos Chapel. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1952 on, and the census since 1880.

1880first census
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Akhiok’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Akhiok began

When was Akhiok founded?

1880

Akhiok first appears in the census in 1880. Another post office, Alitak (1934), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 114 in 18802020 census: 63146 years
Founding year: the first census.The full story ↓

What stands out about Akhiok’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 420 in 1890; 63 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Akhiok’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Akhiok’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewProtection of the Holy Theotokos Russia…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Akhiok, census by census

010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 420

Peaked at 420 in 1890; 63 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Akhiok’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Akhiok came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Akhiok.

Read it all →

Akhiok is an Alutiiq village dependent upon fishing and subsistence activities. The original village of Kashukugniut was occupied by Russians in the early 19th century. The community was originally a sea otter hunting settlement, located at Humpy Cove. The name Akhiok was reported in the 1880 census. In 1881, residents relocated to the present site at Alitak Bay. The relocation was, in part, based on the switch to a fishing economy. Most families gain their livelihood from fishing, either directly by fishing for salmon and halibut or by working in a nearby cannery.

The community's Russian Orthodox church, Protection of the Theotokos Chapel, was built around 1900 at the site of an earlier structure.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Akhiok, 1890 to 1952

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890CensusPopulation peaks at 420
  3. 20th century
  4. 1934Post officeThe Alitak post office opens
  5. 1945Post officeThe Alitak post office closes
  6. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Akhiok, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Protection of the Holy Theotokos Russian Orthodox Church, Kodiak IslandDate?Protection of the Holy Theotokos Russian Orthodox Chu…
On the map

Akhiok on the map in 1952

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Akhiok.

Akhiok on the 1952 USGS map1952Trinity Islands D-1 sheet · 1:63,360

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Akhiok.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Protection of the Holy Theotokos Russian Orthodox Church, Kodiak Island
Retake this viewProtection of the Holy Theotokos Russian Orthodox Church, Kodiak Island

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Akhiok’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Akhiok

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Protection of the Theotokos Chapel
Protection of the Theotokos Chapel
Buildings
Protection of the Theotokos ChapelBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Another post office, Alitak, opened and closed inside today’s town.

1cemetery inside Akhiok
Akhiok

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Akhiok’s history

What year was Akhiok founded?

The Akhiok post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1972.

What is on the National Register in Akhiok?

One place: the Protection of the Theotokos Chapel (listed 1980).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.