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History · St. Paul

St. Paul was first counted by the census in 1880, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of St. Paul was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Its Register listing is the Sts. Peter and Paul Church. Its Register listing is the Sts. Peter and Paul Church. Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1880.

1880first census
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How St. Paul began

When was St. Paul founded?

1880

St. Paul first appears in the census in 1880.

First census: 298 in 18802020 census: 413146 years
Founding year: the first census.

What stands out about St. Paul’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 St. Paul are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 763 in 1990; 413 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Paul’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Paul’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

St. Paul, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 763

Peaked at 763 in 1990; 413 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story so far

St. Paul, in brief

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

St. Paul (Aleut: Tanax̂ Amix̂ or Sanpuulax̂, Russian: Сент-Пол, romanized: Sent-Pol) is a city in the Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska, United States. It is the main settlement of Saint Paul Island in the Pribilof Islands, an archipelago in the Bering Sea. The population was 413 at the 2020 census, down from 479 in 2010. The three closest islands to Saint Paul Island are Otter Island to the southwest, Saint George slightly to the south, and Walrus Island to the east. St. Paul Island's land area is 43 sq mi (110 km2). In 2008, it had one school with 76 students, one post office, one bar, one small store, and one church (the Russian Orthodox Sts. Peter and Paul Church), which is listed on t…

Its first post office opened in 1880. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 479 to 413 (-14%).

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

Timeline

St. Paul, 1948 to 1990

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1948Post officeThe Saint Paul Island post office opens
  3. 1958On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 763
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.
Add from your album
On the map

St. Paul on the map, 1958 to 2001

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

St. Paul on the 1958 USGS mapSt. Paul on the 2001 USGS map1958Pribilof Islands sheet · 1:250,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of St. Paul.

On the National Register

1 historic place in St. Paul

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
Sts. Peter and Paul Church
Sts. Peter and Paul Church
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Byzantine1
Sts. Peter and Paul ChurchByzantine

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

Places that used to be

Old corners

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
MarunichSaint Paul

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about St. Paul’s history

What year was St. Paul founded?

The St. Paul post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1943.

What is on the National Register in St. Paul?

One place: the Sts. Peter and Paul Church (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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.