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History · Chevak

Chevak was first counted by the census in 1950

Most of Chevak was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1950.

1950first census
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Joseph from Cabin On The Road, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Chevak began

When was Chevak founded?

1950

Chevak first appears in the census in 1950.

First census: 230 in 19502020 census: 95176 years
Founding year: the first census.

What stands out about Chevak’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Chevak are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chevak’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Chevak, in brief

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

Chevak (Cevʼaq , which means "cut-through channel" in Chevak Cup’ik) is a city in Kusilvak Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 951, up from 938 in 2010. There is a tri-language system in Chevak; English, Cup’ik, and a mixture of the two languages. The people in Chevak speak a dialect of Central Yup'ik, Cup'ik (pr. Chew-pick), and identify themselves as Cup'ik people rather than Yup'ik. This unique identity has allowed them to form a single-site school district, the Kashunamiut School District, rather than joining a neighboring Yup'ik school district. The Cup'ik dialect is distinguished from Yup'ik by the change of "y" sounds into "ch" sounds, represente…

Its first post office opened in 1950. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 938 in 2010, 951 in 2020.

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

By decade

Chevak, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Chevak at dusk2007Chevak at duskAir Freight in2007Air Freight inOld Chevak trading post building2006Old Chevak trading post buildingCessna floatplane on the Keoklevik River2006Cessna floatplane on the Keoklevik RiverAvian influenza sampling near2006Avian influenza sampling nearDiagram of Chevak Airport in2003Diagram of Chevak Airport in
On the map

Chevak on the map in 1953

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

Chevak on the 1953 USGS map1953Hooper Bay C-2 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 Chevak.

People over time

Chevak, census by census

02004006008001,0001960198020002020951

Grew from 230 people in 1950 to 951 in 2020, 4 times over.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

Questions about Chevak’s history

What year was Chevak founded?

The Chevak post office opened in 1950, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1967.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 (6), 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.