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Shaktoolik Alaska - DronePhoto: Walter Holt Rose · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Shaktoolik

Shaktoolik was first counted by the census in 1880

Most of Shaktoolik was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Below: maps from 1950 on and the census since 1880.

1880first census
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Walter Holt Rose · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Shaktoolik began

When was Shaktoolik founded?

1880

Shaktoolik first appears in the census in 1880.

First census: 60 in 18802020 census: 212146 years
Founding year: the first census.The full story ↓

What stands out about Shaktoolik’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 Shaktoolik are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1880 and 1890, then grew 5-fold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Shaktoolik’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shaktoolik’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

Shaktoolik, census by census

01002001880190019201940196019802000202060 in 1880Low: 38

Lost a third of its people between 1880 and 1890, then grew 5-fold.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Shaktoolik came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Shaktoolik.

Read it all →

According to the Alaska Dept. of Community and Economic Development, Shaktoolik was the first and southernmost Malemiut settlement on Norton Sound, occupied as early as 1839. Twelve miles northwest, on Cape Denbigh, is the Iyatayet site that is 6,000 to 8,000 years old, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Shaktoolik was first mapped in 1842–1844 by Lt. Lavrenty Zagoskin, Imperial Russian Navy, who called it "Tshaktogmyut." "Shaktoolik" is derived from an Unaliq word, "suktuliq", meaning "scattered things".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Shaktoolik, 1930 to 2010

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1930Post officeThe Shaktoolik post office opens
  3. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 21st century
  5. 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 251
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Shaktoolik on the map in 1950

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

Shaktoolik on the 1950 USGS map1950Norton Bay 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 Shaktoolik.

Questions about Shaktoolik’s history

What year was Shaktoolik founded?

The Shaktoolik post office opened in 1880, 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.

Town Square →
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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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.