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History · Alakanuk

Alakanuk’s post office opened in 1947

Most of Alakanuk was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1952 on, and the census since 1940.

1947first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Alakanuk began

When was Alakanuk founded?

1947

The Alakanuk post office opened in 1947, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1969.

First census: 61 in 19402020 census: 75679 years
Founding year: the first Alakanuk post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1969.

What stands out about Alakanuk’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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Alakanuk’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Alakanuk, in brief

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

Alakanuk (ah-LUG-uh-nuck) (Central Yupik: Alarneq) is a second class city in the Kusilvak Census Area of the Unorganized Borough in the western part of the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, Alakanuk had a population of 756.

Its first post office opened in 1947. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 677 to 756 (+12%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Alakanuk, 1947 to 1999

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1947Post officeThe Alakanuk post office opens
  3. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1999In the archiveAUK-Aerial Map
By decade

Alakanuk, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1990s1 item
AUK-Aerial Map1999AUK-Aerial MapMap
Today2 recent
Alakanuk, Alaska, July 16, 2013 -- The Alakanuk City Manager James Blowe inspects the heavily eroded river bank of the …2013Alakanuk, Alaska, July 16, 2013 -- The Alakanuk City …AKMap-doton-Alakanuk2004AKMap-doton-Alakanuk
On the map

Alakanuk on the map in 1952

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

Alakanuk on the 1952 USGS map1952Kwiguk C-6 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 Alakanuk.

People over time

Alakanuk, census by census

020040060080019401960198020002020756

Grew from 61 people in 1940 to 756 in 2020, more than tenfold.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Questions about Alakanuk’s history

What year was Alakanuk founded?

The Alakanuk post office opened in 1947, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1969.

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 Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.