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History · Quinhagak

Quinhagak’s post office opened in 1905

Most of Quinhagak was built recently: 0.9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Below: maps from 1951 on and the census since 1880.

1905first post office
0on the National Register
0.9%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: IceCreamForEveryone · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Quinhagak began

When was Quinhagak founded?

1905

The Quinhagak post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1975.

First census: 83 in 18802020 census: 776121 years
Founding year: the first Quinhagak post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1975.

What stands out about Quinhagak’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Quinhagak are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1900 and 1910, then grew 6-fold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Quinhagak’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Quinhagak, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020201 in 1900Low: 111

Lost a third of its people between 1900 and 1910, then grew 6-fold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story so far

Quinhagak, in brief

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

Quinhagak (; Central Yupik: Kuinerraq) is a city in Bethel Census Area, Alaska, United States. It is located in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, and remains a predominantly Yup'ik settlement. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city is 776, up from 669 in 2010. The Yup'ik name for the village is Kuinerraq, meaning "new river channel." It has been dated to at least 1000 AD. Quinhagak is near the Nunalleq archaeological site, which has "easily the largest collection of pre-contact Yup'ik material anywhere," according to anthropologist Rick Knecht.

Its first post office opened in 1905. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 669 to 776 (+16%).

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

Timeline

Quinhagak, 1905 to 2020

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1905Post officeThe Quinhagak post office opens
  3. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 21st century
  5. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 776
By decade

Quinhagak, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Sign at Quinhagak, Alaska airport (May 2011)2011Sign at Quinhagak, Alaska airport (May 2011)
On the map

Quinhagak on the map in 1951

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

Quinhagak on the 1951 USGS map1951Goodnews 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 Quinhagak.

Questions about Quinhagak’s history

What year was Quinhagak founded?

The Quinhagak post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1975.

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 (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.