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History · Seldovia

Seldovia was first counted by the census in 1880, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the St. Nicholas Chapel. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1880.

1880first census
1on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Seldovia’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Seldovia began

When was Seldovia founded?

1880

Seldovia first appears in the census in 1880.

First census: 74 in 18802020 census: 235146 years
Founding year: the first census.The full story ↓

What stands out about Seldovia’s past

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

Boom and bustPeaked at 479 in 1980; 235 people lived here in 2020.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1890–1910.
★ What stands out · People over time

Seldovia, census by census

010020030040050018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 479

Peaked at 479 in 1980; 235 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

By decade

Seldovia, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1900s10 items
Two men in a bidarka near Seldovia, Alaska, circa 1890-19001890Two men in a bidarka near Seldovia, Alaska, circa 189…Coral beach in Seldovia, Alaska, between 1895 and 1905c. 1900Coral beach in Seldovia, Alaska, between 1895 and 1905Seldovia, Alaska, circa 1900c. 1900Seldovia, Alaska, circa 1900View of Seldovia across water1900View of Seldovia across waterView of town and mountains1900View of town and mountainsGreek church1900Greek churchGroup of Natives in front of log cabins, Seldovia, Alaska, circa 1905c. 1905Group of Natives in front of log cabins, Seldovia, Al…Man sitting in front of wooden structure, Seldovia, 19061906Man sitting in front of wooden structure, Seldovia, 1…J. A. Herbert's Wharf, Seldovia, Alaska, circa 1907-19151907J. A. Herbert's Wharf, Seldovia, Alaska, circa 1907-1…Beach at Seldovia, Alaska, June 21, 19081908Beach at Seldovia, Alaska, June 21, 1908
1910s2 items
Seldovia in the early 1900s1910Seldovia in the early 1900sView of Seldovia, ca. 1910c. 1910View of Seldovia, ca. 1910
1920s–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
The story

How Seldovia came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Seldovia.

Read it all →

The native residents are mixed Dena'ina Athabaskan Indian and Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) Eskimo. In 1787 or 1788 a Russian fur trade post named Aleksandrovskaia was established at today's Seldovia by hunting parties under Evstratii Ivanovich Delarov, of the Shelikhov-Golikov company, precursor of the Russian-American Company.

Although there has been little definitive archeological evidence of human habitation at Seldovia prior to the 1800s, it is said the early Russian St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, started in 1820, was built on top of an older aboriginal Inuit village site. The town's original Russian name, Seldevoy, translates to "Herring Bay", as there was a significant herring population prior to rampant overfishing early in the 20th century.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Seldovia, 1890 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890In the archiveTwo men in a bidarka near Seldovia, Alaska, circa 1890-1900
  3. 1898Post officeThe Seldovia post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900In the archiveCoral beach in Seldovia, Alaska, between 1895 and 1905
  6. 1910In the archiveSeldovia in the early 1900s
  7. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 479
On the map

Seldovia on the map, 1951 to 1987

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Seldovia. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Seldovia on the 1951 USGS mapSeldovia on the 1987 USGS map1951Seldovia B-5 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 Seldovia.

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.

Two men in a bidarka near Seldovia, Alaska, circa 1890-1900
Retake this viewTwo men in a bidarka near Seldovia, Alaska, circa 1890-1900, 1890

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Seldovia

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
St. Nicholas Chapel
Buildings
St. Nicholas ChapelBuilding

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

Help out

Finish Seldovia’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewTwo men in a bidarka near Seldovia, Ala…: 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.

Seldovia VillageIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Seldovia’s history

What year was Seldovia founded?

The Seldovia post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1945.

What is on the National Register in Seldovia?

One place: the St. Nicholas Chapel (listed 1980).

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