Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Nondalton

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Nondalton

Nondalton was first counted by the census in 1920, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Nondalton was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Its Register listing is the St. Nicholas Chapel. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1920.

1920first census
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Nondalton’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Nondalton began

When was Nondalton founded?

1920

Nondalton first appears in the census in 1920.

First census: 69 in 19202020 census: 133106 years
Founding year: the first census.The full story ↓

What stands out about Nondalton’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1920 and 1930, then grew 5-fold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Nondalton’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewSt. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Nondalton, census by census

010020019201940196019802000202069 in 1920Low: 24

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1920 and 1930, then grew 5-fold.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story

How Nondalton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Nondalton.

Read it all →

Nondalton is an Athabascan Indian (Tanaina and Iliamna) village. The name means "lake after lake" in their language: the village is situated along one of a line of lakes. Nondalton was first recorded in 1909. The village was originally located on the north shore of Six Mile Lake, but was moved to the present location in 1940, due to the depletion of wood and the growth of mud flats.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Nondalton, 1938 to 2000

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1938Post officeThe Nondalton post office opens
  3. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 21st century
  5. 2000CensusPopulation peaks at 221
By decade

Nondalton, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox ChurchDate?St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church
Today4 recent
Nondalton Arial View2018Nondalton Arial ViewNondalton, Alaska2018Nondalton, AlaskaNondalton2006NondaltonAKMap-doton-Nondalton2004AKMap-doton-Nondalton
On the map

Nondalton on the map in 1954

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

Nondalton on the 1954 USGS map1954Iliamna D-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 Nondalton.

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.

St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church
Retake this viewSt. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Nondalton

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
St. Nicholas Chapel
St. Nicholas Chapel
Buildings
St. Nicholas ChapelBuilding

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

Places that used to be

Old corners and places now gone

Nondalton’s post office has been open since 1938.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Fish Village
Gone or out of use
Nondalton Post Officepost office

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

Questions about Nondalton’s history

What year was Nondalton founded?

The Nondalton post office opened in 1920, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Nondalton?

One place: the St. Nicholas Chapel (listed 1980).

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 (4), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.