The town was settled by a group of Old Believers from Oregon around 1968, and remains a largely ethnic Russian town. The travels of the group from Russia, as well as the story of the founding of Nikolaevsk, is told in a 1972 article in National Geographic, a 2013 episode on the NatGeo channel called Russian Alaska, and a 2013 article in The Atlantic magazine. The town was founded by the five families of Russian Orthodox Old Believers from Siberia that left Russia after the Russian Revolution, and lived near Harbin, China, and São Paulo, Brazil, before going to the United States. Initially living in Woodburn, Oregon, the community later left for Alaska to find a more isolated location. Nikolaevsk was built from 1968 to 1970.
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 (5), Wikipedia 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.
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