Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Shishmaref

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Shishmaref

Shishmaref’s post office opened in 1901

Most of Shishmaref was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986.

1901first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

How Shishmaref began

When was Shishmaref founded?

1901

The Shishmaref post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1969.

2020 census: 576125 years
Founding year: the first Shishmaref post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1969.

What stands out about Shishmaref’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 Shishmaref are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Shishmaref’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shishmaref’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
The story so far

Shishmaref, in brief

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

Shishmaref ( SHISH-mə-ref; Inupiaq: Qigiqtaq, IPA: [qixiqtaq] or Kigiqtaq; Russian: Шишмарёв, IPA: [ʂɨʂmɐˈrʲɵf]) is a city in the Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. It is located on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea, just north of the Bering Strait and five miles from the mainland. Shishmaref lies within the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. As of the 2020 census, Shishmaref had a population of 576.

Its first post office opened in 1901. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 563 to 576 (+2%).

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

By decade

Shishmaref, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Shishmaref- Erin (53) edit2014Shishmaref- Erin (53) editAlaskan leatherwork and beadwork, Shishmaref, 1989 - Bata Shoe Museum - DSC004032013Alaskan leatherwork and beadwork, Shishmaref, 1989 - …Snowmachine sign2012Snowmachine signSnowmachine sign2012Snowmachine signAKMap-doton-Shishmaref2004AKMap-doton-ShishmarefSHH-h2001SHH-h

Questions about Shishmaref’s history

What year was Shishmaref founded?

The Shishmaref post office opened in 1901, 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 →
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 (6), 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.