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History · Holy Cross

Holy Cross was first counted by the census in 1880

Most of Holy Cross was built recently: 0.9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1952 on, and the census since 1880.

1880first census
0on the National Register
0.9%homes built before 1940
10old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Holy Cross’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Holy Cross began

When was Holy Cross founded?

1880

Holy Cross first appears in the census in 1880. Another post office, Koserefsky (1899), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 30 in 18802020 census: 176146 years
Founding year: the first census.

What stands out about Holy Cross’ past

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

Boom and bustPeaked at 337 in 1930; 176 people lived here in 2020.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Holy Cross, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · People over time

Holy Cross, census by census

010020030018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 337

Peaked at 337 in 1930; 176 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Holy Cross’s post office has been open since 1912. Another post office, Koserefsky, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Koserefsky
1899–1912
Holy Cross
1912–today
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
ClaikahakGost CreekIgnok
Gone or out of use
Kuyikanuikpullocale

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

The story so far

Holy Cross, in brief

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

Holy Cross (Degexit'an: Deloy Chet; Central Yupik: Ingirraller) is a city in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 census, Holy Cross had a population of 176.

Its first post office opened in 1880. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 178 in 2010, 176 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Holy Cross, 1890 to 1999

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890In the archiveMission at Holy Cross, Alaska, circa 1890-1900
  3. 1899Post officeThe Koserefsky post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1901In the archiveFirst station of the Trans Alaska Co. at Holy Cross (formerly Kozherevsky), Alaska, Octob…
  6. 1912In the archiveView of Holy Cross, ca. 1912
  7. 1912Post officeThe Koserefsky post office closes
  8. 1912Post officeThe Holy Cross post office opens
  9. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 337
  10. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  11. 1999In the archiveHCA-g
By decade

Holy Cross, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1900s6 items
Mission at Holy Cross, Alaska, circa 1890-19001890Mission at Holy Cross, Alaska, circa 1890-1900First station of the Trans Alaska Co. at Holy Cross (formerly Kozherevsky), Alaska, October 19, 19011901First station of the Trans Alaska Co. at Holy Cross (…First survey party leaving Trans Alaska Co.'s camp at Holy Cross (formerly Kozherevsky), Alaska, October 29, 19011901First survey party leaving Trans Alaska Co.'s camp at…FMIB 41289 Native School Children at Holy Cross Mission, Yukon River1904FMIB 41289 Native School Children at Holy Cross Missi…FMIB 41306 Underground Dwellings of Eskimos at Holy Cross Mission, Yukon River Fully 50 per cent of the natives of this…1904FMIB 41306 Underground Dwellings of Eskimos at Holy C…Holy Cross Roman Catholic Mission, Lower Yukon River, 19091909Holy Cross Roman Catholic Mission, Lower Yukon River,…
1910s3 items
View of Holy Cross, ca. 1912c. 1912View of Holy Cross, ca. 1912Holy Cross, Alaska1914Holy Cross, AlaskaNative children in school uniforms holding American flags, Holy Cross, Alaska1914Native children in school uniforms holding American f…
1920s–1980snothing 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
1990s1 item
HCA-g1999HCA-g
On the map

Holy Cross on the map in 1952

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Holy Cross.

Holy Cross on the 1952 USGS map1952Holy Cross A-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 Holy Cross.

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.

Mission at Holy Cross, Alaska, circa 1890-1900
Retake this viewMission at Holy Cross, Alaska, circa 1890-1900, 1890

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

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Holy Cross’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMission at Holy Cross, Alaska, circa 18…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Holy Cross’ history

What year was Holy Cross founded?

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

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 (10), 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.