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History · Tenakee Springs

Tenakee Springs was first counted by the census in 1910, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1948 on and the census since 1910.

1910first census
0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
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Photo: 10point · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

How Tenakee Springs began

When was Tenakee Springs founded?

1910

Tenakee Springs first appears in the census in 1910. Another post office, Tenakee (1902), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 126 in 19102020 census: 116116 years
Founding year: the first census.

What stands out about Tenakee Springs’ 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 Tenakee Springs are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 210 in 1930; 116 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Tenakee Springs’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Tenakee Springs, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 210

Peaked at 210 in 1930; 116 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story so far

Tenakee Springs, in brief

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

Tenakee Springs (Tlingit: Tʼanag̱eey) is a city on Chichagof Island in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 census, Tenakee Springs had a population of 116.

Its first post office opened in 1910. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 131 to 116 (-11%).

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

Timeline

Tenakee Springs, 1902 to 1948

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1902Post officeThe Tenakee post office opens
  3. 1928Post officeThe Tenakee post office closes
  4. 1928Post officeThe Tenakee Springs post office opens
  5. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 210
  6. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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

Tenakee Springs on the map, 1948 to 1997

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

Tenakee Springs on the 1948 USGS mapTenakee Springs on the 1955 USGS mapTenakee Springs on the 1997 USGS map1948Sitka D-4 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 Tenakee Springs.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Tenakee Springs’s post office has been open since 1928. Another post office, Tenakee, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Tenakee
1902–1928
Tenakee Springs
1928–today
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Cannery
1cemetery inside Tenakee Springs
Grave Island

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

Questions about Tenakee Springs’ history

What year was Tenakee Springs founded?

The Tenakee Springs post office opened in 1910, 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 →
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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 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.