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CHistory
History · Akutan

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

More historic than 28% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Akutan was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Its Register listing is the St. Alexander Nevsky Chapel. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1880.

1880first census
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
11old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Akutan’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Akutan began

When was Akutan founded?

1880

Akutan first appears in the census in 1880.

First census: 65 in 18802020 census: 1,589146 years

How historic is Akutan?

C

More historic than 28% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first census.
History grade

What drives Akutan’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Akutan is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Akutan’s overall grade.
Founding era1880, from the first census: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.0% of homes (±11.0) · typical AK town 0.3% · U.S. 8.4%D−National Register1 listing, 14.4 per 10,000 residents · typical AK town 3.3 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 28%
NewerOlder

Alaska towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Alaska town has 3.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Akutan’s 14.4 sits above most of its state (82% of Alaska towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±11.0 points).

Founding year: the first census (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

The story so far

Akutan, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Akutan yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Its first post office opened in 1880. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,027 to 1,589 (+55%).

Timeline

Akutan, 1878 to 1951

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878BuiltSt. Alexander Nevsky Chapel is built
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900In the archiveRussian chimes
  5. 1912In the archiveAleut barabara, or sod hut, Akutan, Bering Sea, ca. 1912
  6. 1914Post officeThe Akutan post office opens
  7. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Akutan, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1910s11 items
Russian chimes1900Russian chimesAleut barabara, or sod hut, Akutan, Bering Sea, ca. 1912c. 1912Aleut barabara, or sod hut, Akutan, Bering Sea, ca. 1…Group of men standing with dead whale, American Pacific Sea Products Co., Akutan Harbor, Alaska, 19141914Group of men standing with dead whale, American Pacif…FMIB 49172 Akutan Aleuts standing before a barabara or sod hut1915FMIB 49172 Akutan Aleuts standing before a barabara o…FMIB 49183 Akutan Aleut mother and 8 children in front of barabki, or small type of sod hut The father is employed at a…1915FMIB 49183 Akutan Aleut mother and 8 children in fron…Flensing a blue whale, probably at the whaling station at Akutan, Alaska, ca. 1915c. 1915Flensing a blue whale, probably at the whaling statio…Flensing a whale at a whaling station, Akutan, Alaska, ca. 1915c. 1915Flensing a whale at a whaling station, Akutan, Alaska…Flensing a whale at a whaling station, Akutan, Alaska, ca. 1915c. 1915Flensing a whale at a whaling station, Akutan, Alaska…Flensing a whale at a whaling station, Akutan, Alaska, ca. 1915c. 1915Flensing a whale at a whaling station, Akutan, Alaska…Flensing a whale at a whaling station, Akutan, Alaska, ca. 1915c. 1915Flensing a whale at a whaling station, Akutan, Alaska…Flensing whales at a whaling station, Akutan, Alaska, ca. 1915c. 1915Flensing whales at a whaling station, Akutan, Alaska,…
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Akutan on the map, 1951 to 1989

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Akutan. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Akutan on the 1951 USGS mapAkutan on the 1989 USGS map1951Unimak sheet · 1:250,000

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

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.

Russian chimes
Retake this viewRussian chimes, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Akutan

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
St. Alexander Nevsky Chapel
St. Alexander Nevsky Chapel, built 1878
Buildings
St. Alexander Nevsky ChapelBuilt 1878

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

People over time

Akutan, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,600188019001920194019601980200020201,589

Grew from 65 people in 1880 to 1,589 in 2020, more than tenfold.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Help out

Finish Akutan’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewRussian chimes: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Akutan’s history

What year was Akutan founded?

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

How does Akutan rank for history?

Akutan is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Akutan?

One place: the St. Alexander Nevsky Chapel (listed 1980).

How old are the homes in Akutan?

0.0% of Akutan’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.0 points), against a typical 0.3% for an Alaska town; the median home was built in 1990.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (10), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.