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Shungnak, Alaska fall aerial view (cropped)Photo: National Park Service · Public domain
–Not graded
History · Shungnak

Shungnak’s post office opened in 1903

Most of Shungnak was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1955 on, and the census since 1930.

1903first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Shungnak’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Shungnak began

When was Shungnak founded?

1903

The Shungnak post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 145 in 19302020 census: 272123 years
Founding year: the first Shungnak post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Shungnak’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1940 and 1960, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Shungnak’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewLanding Fields - Alaska: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Shungnak, census by census

010020030019401960198020002020193 in 1940Low: 135

Lost a third of its people between 1940 and 1960, then more than doubled.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

The story

How Shungnak came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Shungnak.

Read it all →

Shungnak originally was settled in 1899, approximately 10 miles to the east along the Kobuk River. The name "Shungnak" is derived from Iñupiaq term Isiŋnaq which means jade, a stone found in the surrounding area. In the 1920s, erosion along the river caused many residents to abandon the old townsite. In 1927, they resettled at a site originally known as "Kochuk." Residents decided to rename Kochuk as the new Shungnak. At the old Shungnak village, some residents chose to remain. To avoid confusion between the two villages, Old Shungnak became Kobuk in 1928.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Shungnak, 1903 to 2020

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1903Post officeThe Shungnak post office opens
  3. 1917In the archiveLanding Fields - Alaska
  4. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 21st century
  6. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 272
By decade

Shungnak, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Landing Fields - Alaska1917Landing Fields - Alaska
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
Date unknown2 to date
Shungnak, Alaska fall aerial view (cropped)Date?Shungnak, Alaska fall aerial view (cropped)Shungnak, Alaska fall aerial viewDate?Shungnak, Alaska fall aerial view
Today2 recent
The New Hampshire Army National Guard Medical Readiness Detachment load into an Alaska Army National Guard UH-60 Black …2025The New Hampshire Army National Guard Medical Readine…AKMap-doton-Shungnak2004AKMap-doton-Shungnak
On the map

Shungnak on the map in 1955

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

Shungnak on the 1955 USGS map1955Shungnak D-3 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 Shungnak.

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.

Landing Fields - Alaska
Retake this viewLanding Fields - Alaska, 1917

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

Retake this view · +15

Questions about Shungnak’s history

What year was Shungnak founded?

The Shungnak post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (5), 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.