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History · Port Heiden

Port Heiden’s post office opened in 1912

Most of Port Heiden was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1963 on, and the census since 1880.

1912first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Port Heiden’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Port Heiden began

When was Port Heiden founded?

1912

The Port Heiden post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1972.

First census: 40 in 18802020 census: 100114 years
Founding year: the first Port Heiden post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1972.

What stands out about Port Heiden’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1890 and 1920, then grew 3-fold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Port Heiden’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Port Heiden’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 photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewRussian Orthodox Church: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Port Heiden, census by census

01001880190019201940196019802000202074 in 1890Low: 30

Lost half of its people between 1890 and 1920, then grew 3-fold.

11 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story so far

Port Heiden, in brief

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

Port Heiden (Alutiiq: Masrriq) is a city in Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city is 100, slightly down from 102 in 2010.

Its first post office opened in 1912. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 102 in 2010, 100 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Port Heiden, 1912 to 1990

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1912Post officeThe Port Heiden post office opens
  3. 1915Post officeThe Port Heiden post office closes
  4. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 119
By decade

Port Heiden, decade by decade

Date unknown2 to date
Russian Orthodox ChurchDate?Russian Orthodox ChurchSt. Matrona Russian Orthodox ChurchDate?St. Matrona Russian Orthodox Church
Today3 recent
2015 AKPB SC (1)20152015 AKPB SC (1)Port-Heiden-Airport-diagram2004Port-Heiden-Airport-diagramAKMap-doton-PortHeiden2004AKMap-doton-PortHeiden
On the map

Port Heiden on the map in 1963

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

Port Heiden on the 1963 USGS map1963Chignik 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 Port Heiden.

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.

Russian Orthodox Church
Retake this viewRussian Orthodox Church

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Port Heiden had its own post office from 1912 to 1915.

Port Heiden
1912–1915
19101970today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Meshik

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

Questions about Port Heiden’s history

What year was Port Heiden founded?

The Port Heiden post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1972.

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 (3), the Library of Congress (2), 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.