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History · Hoonah

Hoonah was first counted by the census in 1880

Most of Hoonah was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1880.

1880first census
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Hoonah’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Hoonah began

When was Hoonah founded?

1880

Hoonah first appears in the census in 1880.

First census: 800 in 18802020 census: 931146 years
Founding year: the first census.The full story ↓

What stands out about Hoonah’s past

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

Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1880 and 1920, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · People over time

Hoonah, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020800 in 1880Low: 402

Lost half of its people between 1880 and 1920, then more than doubled.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Hoonah came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hoonah.

Read it all →

The clans comprising the Huna Tlingit originally settled what is now Glacier Bay National Park as well as Icy Strait, Cross Sound, and the outer coast north to Sea Otter Creek. Two catastrophic events forced the Tlingit from their homeland: rapid glacial advance in Glacier Bay and a landslide-induced tsunami in Lituya Bay along the outer coast. Tlingit oral tradition recounts these events as well as the clans' ultimate resettlement in Xunaa.

1750s - Xunaa was settled by clans fleeing glacial advance in Glacier Bay.

1880 - The North West Trading Company built the first store in Hoonah.

ChaptersEducation and schoolsHoonah Packing Company

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hoonah, 1884 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884In the archiveHoohina [i.e. Hoonah], S.E. Alaska
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901Post officeThe Hoonah post office opens
  5. 1903In the archiveA typical Hoonah squaw, Alaska
  6. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1967In the archiveFrank See (cropped)
  8. 21st century
  9. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 931
By decade

Hoonah, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s–1900s4 items
Hoohina [i.e. Hoonah], S.E. Alaska1884Hoohina [i.e. Hoonah], S.E. AlaskaA typical Hoonah squaw, Alaska1903A typical Hoonah squaw, AlaskaTlingit woman from Hoonah, Alaska, circa 1905c. 1905Tlingit woman from Hoonah, Alaska, circa 1905Tootch-Wu-Wu Lucy native girl from1907Tootch-Wu-Wu Lucy native girl from
1910s–1950snothing 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
1960s1 item
Frank See (cropped)1967Frank See (cropped)
1970s–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
Today10 recent
HOONAH DESDE EL MAR2008HOONAH DESDE EL MARHOONAH2008HOONAHCASAS EN2008CASAS ENCALLE DESDE FRONT STREET2008CALLE DESDE FRONT STREETTlingit dance troupe2006Tlingit dance troupeHoonah Streetview2006Hoonah StreetviewHoonah Public School2006Hoonah Public SchoolHeart of2006Heart ofDowntown2006DowntownHoonah2005Hoonah
On the map

Hoonah on the map, 1951 to 1994

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

Hoonah on the 1951 USGS mapHoonah on the 1994 USGS map1951Juneau A-5 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 Hoonah.

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.

Hoohina [i.e. Hoonah], S.E. Alaska
Retake this viewHoohina [i.e. Hoonah], S.E. Alaska, 1884

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

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Hoonah’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 viewHoohina [i.e. Hoonah], S.E. Alaska: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Whitestone Logging CampIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Hoonah’s history

What year was Hoonah founded?

The Hoonah 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 (13), the Library of Congress (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.