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History · Port Alexander

Port Alexander’s post office opened in 1926, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Port Alexander was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Its Register listing is the Karl Hansen House. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1930.

1926first post office
1on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Port Alexander’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Port Alexander began

When was Port Alexander founded?

1926

The Port Alexander post office opened in 1926, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1974.

First census: 107 in 19302020 census: 78100 years
Founding year: the first Port Alexander post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1974.The full story ↓

What stands out about Port Alexander’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 1930 and 1960, then grew 4-fold.
★ What stands out · People over time

Port Alexander, census by census

010019401960198020002020107 in 1930Low: 18

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1930 and 1960, then grew 4-fold.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

The story

How Port Alexander came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Port Alexander.

Read it all →

There is no written record of a permanent Tlingit settlement at Port Alexander. One translation of its Tlingit name, Haa Léelk'w Hás Aaní Saax'ú, is "Village beside Shee [Baranof Island]" which hints that it was some sort of dwelling place. The fact that there were native structures there in 1794 suggests that the Tlingit used the area in the pre-contact era in some capacity, perhaps as a summer fish camp.

ChaptersBefore the fishing boom (Pre-1913)Fishing boom (1913-1941)Lean years 1942–1970Regrowth 1970–present

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Port Alexander, 1900 to 1990

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900In the archiveHard luck
  3. 1920In the archivePort Alexander, Alaska c.1920
  4. 1926Post officeThe Port Alexander post office opens
  5. 1931In the archive1931 plat map of
  6. 1950In the archivePort Alexander, Alaska in 1950
  7. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1967In the archive1967 NOAA chart of
  9. 1971Post officeThe Port Alexander post office closes
  10. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 119
By decade

Port Alexander, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1960s5 items
Hard luck1900Hard luckPort Alexander, Alaska c.19201920Port Alexander, Alaska c.19201931 plat map of19311931 plat map ofMapPort Alexander, Alaska in 19501950Port Alexander, Alaska in 19501967 NOAA chart of19671967 NOAA chart of
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
Today1 recent
Port Alexander2016Port Alexander
On the map

Port Alexander on the map in 1951

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Port Alexander.

Port Alexander on the 1951 USGS map1951Port Alexander sheet · 1:250,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Port Alexander.

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.

Hard luck
Retake this viewHard luck, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Port Alexander

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2023
Karl Hansen House
Karl Hansen House
Buildings
All 1 listings
Karl Hansen HouseBuilding · listed 2023

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Port Alexander had its own post office from 1926 to 1971.

Port Alexander
1926–1971
19201970today
Gone or out of use
Port Alexander Post Officepost office

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

Help out

Finish Port Alexander’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
5 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHard luck: 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.

Sitka22 historic placesB−

Questions about Port Alexander’s history

What year was Port Alexander founded?

The Port Alexander post office opened in 1926, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1974.

What is on the National Register in Port Alexander?

One place: the Karl Hansen House (listed 2023).

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 (5), 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.