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History · Savoonga

Savoonga’s post office opened in 1934

Most of Savoonga was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1925 on.

1934first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Savoonga’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Savoonga began

When was Savoonga founded?

1934

The Savoonga post office opened in 1934, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1969.

2020 census: 83592 years
Founding year: the first Savoonga post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1969.The full story ↓

What stands out about Savoonga’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Savoonga’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHouses at Savoonga, Saint Lawrence Isla…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Savoonga came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Savoonga.

Read it all →

St. Lawrence Island has been inhabited sporadically for the past 2,000 years by both Alaskan Yup'ik and Siberian Yupik people. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the island had a population of about 4,000 in numerous villages.

Between 1878 and 1880, a famine devastated the island's population. Many who did not starve left. The remaining population of St. Lawrence Island was nearly all Siberian Yupik.

In 1900, reindeer were introduced on the island and by 1917, the herd had grown to over 10,000 animals. A reindeer camp was established near present-day Savoonga in 1916. The village of Savoonga was established near the camp in the 1930s. Good hunting and trapping in the area attracted more residents.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Savoonga, 1924 to 1934

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1924Born hereAnnie Aghnaqa Alowa is born here
  3. 1925In the archiveHouses at Savoonga, Saint Lawrence Island, 1925
  4. 1934Post officeThe Savoonga post office opens
By decade

Savoonga, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s1 item
Houses at Savoonga, Saint Lawrence Island, 19251925Houses at Savoonga, Saint Lawrence Island, 1925
1930s–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
Today5 recent
Christmas came early for one Alaska village 151016-Z-MW427-0362015Christmas came early for one Alaska village 151016-Z-…Christmas came early for one Alaska village 151016-Z-MW427-0282015Christmas came early for one Alaska village 151016-Z-…Seal meat hanging to dry on St. Lawrence Island2014Seal meat hanging to dry on St. Lawrence IslandSeal meat hanging to dry on St. Lawrence Island - 022014Seal meat hanging to dry on St. Lawrence Island - 02Savoonga, Alaska2013Savoonga, Alaska
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.

Houses at Savoonga, Saint Lawrence Island, 1925
Retake this viewHouses at Savoonga, Saint Lawrence Island, 1925, 1925

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

Retake this view · +15

Questions about Savoonga’s history

What year was Savoonga founded?

The Savoonga post office opened in 1934, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1969.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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