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History · Point Hope

Point Hope was first counted by the census in 1880

Most of Point Hope was built recently: 0.0% 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
0.0%homes built before 1940
10old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Point Hope’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Point Hope began

When was Point Hope founded?

1880

Point Hope first appears in the census in 1880. Another post office, Tigara (1909), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 276 in 18802020 census: 830146 years
Founding year: the first census.The full story ↓

What stands out about Point Hope’s past

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

Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1900 and 1930, then grew 5-fold.
★ What stands out · People over time

Point Hope, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020623 in 1900Low: 139

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1900 and 1930, then grew 5-fold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Point Hope came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Point Hope.

Read it all →

The descriptive Inuit name of the place, "Tikarakh" or "Tikiġaq", commonly spelled "Tiagara", means "forefinger". It was recorded as "Tiekagagmiut" in 1861 by P. Tikhmeniev Wich of the Russian Hydrographic Department and on Russian Chart 1495 it became "Tiekaga". This ancient village site was advantageous, because the protrusion of Point Hope into the sea brought the whales close to the shore. At Tikigaq, they built semi-subterranean houses using mainly whalebone and driftwood. Point Hope is one of the oldest continually occupied sites in North America. While some of the earlier dwellings have been lost to erosion as the point shrinks, it still provides valuable information to archaeologists on how early Eskimos survived in their harsh environment. The Tikigaq site according to Helge Larsen is, "by far the most extensive and complete one-period site yet discovered and described in the …

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Point Hope, 1885 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1885In the archivePointHopeHousesUSGSric00682
  3. 1899In the archiveFMIB 35078 Native Man and Woman from Point Hope Village
  4. 20th century
  5. 1909Post officeThe Tigara post office opens
  6. 1911Born hereHoward Rock is born here
  7. 1933In the archiveGENERAL VIEW - Town Hall, Point Hope, North Slope Borough, AK
  8. 1940Post officeThe Tigara post office closes
  9. 1940Post officeThe Point Hope post office opens
  10. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  11. 1972In the archiveBoiling whale meat for the annual Whaling Festival
  12. 1998In the archivePHO-h
  13. 21st century
  14. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 830
By decade

Point Hope, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s–1890s6 items
PointHopeHousesUSGSric006821885PointHopeHousesUSGSric00682FMIB 35078 Native Man and Woman from Point Hope Village1899FMIB 35078 Native Man and Woman from Point Hope Villa…FMIB 35121 Whaling Station at Point Hope, Alaska Spring1899FMIB 35121 Whaling Station at Point Hope, Alaska Spri…FMIB 35123 Whaling Station at Point Hope, Alaska Winter1899FMIB 35123 Whaling Station at Point Hope, Alaska Wint…FMIB 35132 Eskimo Grave at1899FMIB 35132 Eskimo Grave atFMIB 35134 Old Grave at1899FMIB 35134 Old Grave at
1900s–1920snothing 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
1930s1 item
GENERAL VIEW - Town Hall, Point Hope, North Slope Borough, AK1933GENERAL VIEW - Town Hall, Point Hope, North Slope Bor…
1940s–1960snothing 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
1970s–1990s3 items
Boiling whale meat for the annual Whaling Festival1972Boiling whale meat for the annual Whaling FestivalBoiling whale meat for the annual whaling festival1972Boiling whale meat for the annual whaling festivalPHO-h1998PHO-h
Today2 recent
PtHpe Bns2007PtHpe BnsAKMap-doton-PointHope2004AKMap-doton-PointHope
On the map

Point Hope on the map in 1952

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Point Hope.

Point Hope on the 1952 USGS map1952Point Hope B-3 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 Point Hope.

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.

PointHopeHousesUSGSric00682
Retake this viewPointHopeHousesUSGSric00682, 1885

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Point Hope’s post office has been open since 1940. Another post office, Tigara, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Tigara
1909–1940
Point Hope
1940–today
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Nunalocale

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

Help out

Finish Point Hope’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 viewPointHopeHousesUSGSric00682: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Point Hope’s history

What year was Point Hope founded?

The Point Hope post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1966.

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 (12), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.