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History · Ouzinkie

Ouzinkie was first counted by the census in 1880, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Ouzinkie was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Its Register listing is the Nativity of Our Lord Chapel. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1880.

1880first census
1on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Ouzinkie’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Ouzinkie began

When was Ouzinkie founded?

1880

Ouzinkie first appears in the census in 1880.

First census: 45 in 18802020 census: 109146 years
Founding year: the first census.

What stands out about Ouzinkie’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 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 253 in 1940; 109 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ouzinkie’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo3 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewOuzinkie from the water, ca. 1912: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Ouzinkie, census by census

010020018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 253

Peaked at 253 in 1940; 109 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story so far

Ouzinkie, in brief

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

Ouzinkie (, Uusenkaaq in Alutiiq, Russian: Узинки) is a hamlet on Spruce Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 census, Ouzinkie had a population of 109.

Its first post office opened in 1880. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 161 to 109 (-32%).

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

Timeline

Ouzinkie, 1912 to 1949

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1912In the archiveOuzinkie from the water, ca. 1912
  3. 1927Post officeThe Ouzinkie post office opens
  4. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 253
  5. 1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Ouzinkie, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Ouzinkie from the water, ca. 1912c. 1912Ouzinkie from the water, ca. 1912
1920s–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
Date unknown3 to date
Nativity of Our Lord Russian Orthodox Church, Spruce IslandDate?Nativity of Our Lord Russian Orthodox Church, Spruce …Saints Sergius & Herman of Valaam Russian Orthodox Chapel, Spruce IslandDate?Saints Sergius & Herman of Valaam Russian Orthodox Ch…Saints Sergius & Herman of Valaam Russian Orthodox Chapel, Well House, Spruce IslandDate?Saints Sergius & Herman of Valaam Russian Orthodox Ch…
Today13 recent
Untitled photo2021Untitled photoUntitled photo2021Untitled photoKodiak, Alaska2018Kodiak, AlaskaKodiak, Alaska2018Kodiak, AlaskaKodiak, Alaska2018Kodiak, AlaskaOuzinkie Safe Boating Day – MH-60 Jayhawk introduction 150430-G-FO900-0772015Ouzinkie Safe Boating Day – MH-60 Jayhawk introductio…Ouzinkie Safe Boating Day 150430-G-FO900-0742015Ouzinkie Safe Boating Day 150430-G-FO900-074Ouzinkie Safe Boating Day - Signal mirror training 150430-G-FO900-0762015Ouzinkie Safe Boating Day - Signal mirror training 15…Ouzinkie Safe Boating Day - Litter packaging demonstration 150430-G-FO900-0752015Ouzinkie Safe Boating Day - Litter packaging demonstr…Ouzinkie village2013Ouzinkie villageOuzinkie gets ferry service2012Ouzinkie gets ferry serviceSamantha Patterson, right, a member of the Spouses Association of Kodiak, helps an Ouzinkie student pick out a Christma…2011Samantha Patterson, right, a member of the Spouses As…AKMap-doton-Ouzinkie2004AKMap-doton-Ouzinkie
On the map

Ouzinkie on the map, 1949 to 1951

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

Ouzinkie on the 1949 USGS mapOuzinkie on the 1951 USGS map1949Kodiak D-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 Ouzinkie.

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.

Ouzinkie from the water, ca. 1912
Retake this viewOuzinkie from the water, ca. 1912, c. 1912

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Ouzinkie

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
Nativity of Our Lord Chapel
Nativity of Our Lord Chapel
Buildings
Nativity of Our Lord ChapelBuilding

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

Questions about Ouzinkie’s history

What year was Ouzinkie founded?

The Ouzinkie post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1967.

What is on the National Register in Ouzinkie?

One place: the Nativity of Our Lord 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 (14), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.