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History · Angoon

Angoon was first counted by the census in 1880, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the St. John the Baptist Church and the Distin Lake Shelter Cabin. Its Register listings are the St. John the Baptist Church and the Distin Lake Shelter Cabin. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1880.

1880first census
2on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Angoon’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Angoon began

When was Angoon founded?

1880

Angoon first appears in the census in 1880. Two smaller post offices, Killisnoo (1882) and Hood Bay (1948), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 420 in 18802020 census: 357146 years
Founding year: the first census.The full story ↓

What stands out about Angoon’s past

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

Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1920, then grew 3-fold.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Angoon, and 2 old place names are still on the map.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1890–1933.Mystery photos8 old photos have no date. Neighbors can guess the decade.
★ What stands out · People over time

Angoon, census by census

010020030040050060070018801900192019401960198020002020420 in 1880Low: 114

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1920, then grew 3-fold.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Angoon’s post office has been open since 1928. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Killisnoo
1882–1930
Angoon
1928–today
Hood Bay
1948–1957
Barge
1950–1951
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Hood BayKillisnoo

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

By decade

Angoon, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1930s4 items
Killisnoo Salmon Exchange, ca. 1890s-1910s1890sKillisnoo Salmon Exchange, ca. 1890s-1910sAngoon waterfront, Alaska, circa 19001900Angoon waterfront, Alaska, circa 1900EAST AND NORTH SIDES - St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Angoon, Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, AK1933EAST AND NORTH SIDES - St. John the Baptist Russian O…EAST SIDE - St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Angoon, Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, AK1933EAST SIDE - St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Chu…
1940s–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
Date unknown8 to date
INTERIOR, NAVE, LOOKING EAST - St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Angoon, Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area,…Date?INTERIOR, NAVE, LOOKING EAST - St. John the Baptist R…INTERIOR, NAVE, LOOKING EAST - St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Angoon, Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area,…Date?INTERIOR, NAVE, LOOKING EAST - St. John the Baptist R…INTERIOR, NAVE, LOOKING EAST - St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Angoon, Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area,…Date?INTERIOR, NAVE, LOOKING EAST - St. John the Baptist R…INTERIOR, NAVE, LOOKING NORTHEAST - St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Angoon, Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census …Date?INTERIOR, NAVE, LOOKING NORTHEAST - St. John the Bapt…INTERIOR, NAVE, LOOKING SOUTHWEST - St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Angoon, Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census …Date?INTERIOR, NAVE, LOOKING SOUTHWEST - St. John the Bapt…INTERIOR, SANCTUARY, LOOKING NORTHEAST - St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Angoon, Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Ce…Date?INTERIOR, SANCTUARY, LOOKING NORTHEAST - St. John the…INTERIOR, SANCTUARY, LOOKING SOUTHEAST - St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Angoon, Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Ce…Date?INTERIOR, SANCTUARY, LOOKING SOUTHEAST - St. John the…INTERIOR, SANCTUARY, LOOKING SOUTHWEST - St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Angoon, Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Ce…Date?INTERIOR, SANCTUARY, LOOKING SOUTHWEST - St. John the…
Today6 recent
Southeast Rural Alaska Hosts USDA, RPN, RD, and OTR Outreach (20230627-USDA-RD-RPN-AK-JR-0005)2023Southeast Rural Alaska Hosts USDA, RPN, RD, and OTR O…Southeast Rural Alaska Hosts USDA, RPN, RD, and OTR Outreach (20230627-USDA-RD-RPN-AK-JR-0004)2023Southeast Rural Alaska Hosts USDA, RPN, RD, and OTR O…Angoon2014AngoonCrossing Chatham Strait2009Crossing Chatham StraitAKMap-doton-Angoon2004AKMap-doton-AngoonAngoon Seaplane Base diagram2003Angoon Seaplane Base diagram
The story

How Angoon came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Angoon.

Read it all →

Admiralty Island has long been the home of the Kootznoowoo Tlingit people (Tlingit: Xootsnoowú Ḵwáan), who are enrolled in the Angoon Community Association. Kootznoowoo means "fortress of brown bears", literally xoots-noow-ú "brown.bear-fortress-possessive". Angoon has a less-rainy climate than most of southeastern Alaska and was valued by the Tlingit for that reason.

During the Russian period in Alaska, from the 18th century to the mid-19th century, maritime fur trading was a major economic activity in the area.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Angoon, 1882 to 1990

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Killisnoo post office opens
  3. 1890In the archiveKillisnoo Salmon Exchange, ca. 1890s-1910s
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900In the archiveAngoon waterfront, Alaska, circa 1900
  6. 1928Post officeThe Angoon post office opens
  7. 1930Post officeThe Killisnoo post office closes
  8. 1933In the archiveEAST AND NORTH SIDES - St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Angoon, Skagway-Hoon…
  9. 1948Post officeThe Hood Bay post office opens
  10. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  11. 1957Post officeThe Hood Bay post office closes
  12. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 638
On the map

Angoon on the map, 1951 to 1964

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

Angoon on the 1951 USGS mapAngoon on the 1964 USGS map1951Sitka 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 Angoon.

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.

Killisnoo Salmon Exchange, ca. 1890s-1910s
Retake this viewKillisnoo Salmon Exchange, ca. 1890s-1910s, 1890s

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Angoon

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
St. John the Baptist Church
St. John the Baptist ChurchDistin Lake Shelter Cabin
Buildings
St. John the Baptist ChurchBuilding
Distin Lake Shelter CabinBuilding

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

Help out

Start Angoon’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo8 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewKillisnoo Salmon Exchange, ca. 1890s-19…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Angoon’s history

What year was Angoon founded?

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

What is on the National Register in Angoon?

Two places: the St. John the Baptist Church (listed 1980) and the Distin Lake Shelter Cabin (1995).

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 (18), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.