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History · Chignik

Chignik in old photos and postcards

Postcards, papers and photographs of Chignik from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.

18old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Chignik’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Chignik’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A town in old photos18 old photos, postcards and papers, 1899–1912.
★ What stands out · By decade

Chignik, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s6 items
FMIB 38716 Fish Scow at Dock1899FMIB 38716 Fish Scow at Dock FMIB 38727 Transport Ship at1899FMIB 38727 Transport Ship at FMIB 38733 Stern-Wheel Steamer Used in Towing Fishing Boats and Setting Nets1899FMIB 38733 Stern-Wheel Steamer Used in Towing Fishing… FMIB 38816 Pound Net in Chignik Bay1899FMIB 38816 Pound Net in Chignik Bay FMIB 38817 Chignik Lagoon Trap1899FMIB 38817 Chignik Lagoon Trap FMIB 38833 A P A Cannery at Chignik Bay1899FMIB 38833 A P A Cannery at Chignik Bay
1900s–1910s12 items
Chignik Cannery, Chignik, Alaska, between 1907 and 19151907Chignik Cannery, Chignik, Alaska, between 1907 and 19… Chignik, Alaska, between 1905 and 1915c. 1910Chignik, Alaska, between 1905 and 1915 View of Chignik, ca. 1910c. 1910View of Chignik, ca. 1910 Wreck of the salmon cannery ship JABEZ HOWES, Chignik, 19111911Wreck of the salmon cannery ship JABEZ HOWES, Chignik… Wreck of the salmon cannery ship JABEZ HOWES, Chignik, 19111911Wreck of the salmon cannery ship JABEZ HOWES, Chignik… Wreck of the salmon cannery ship JABEZ HOWES, Chignik, 19111911Wreck of the salmon cannery ship JABEZ HOWES, Chignik… Wreck of the salmon cannery ship JABEZ HOWES, Chignik, 19111911Wreck of the salmon cannery ship JABEZ HOWES, Chignik… Wreck of the salmon cannery ship JABEZ HOWES, Chignik, 19111911Wreck of the salmon cannery ship JABEZ HOWES, Chignik… Chignik, bird's-eye view , ca. 1912c. 1912Chignik, bird's-eye view , ca. 1912 Columbia River Packing Association cannery, Chignik, ca. 1912c. 1912Columbia River Packing Association cannery, Chignik, … Looking back from ship to Chignik and hills, ca. 1912c. 1912Looking back from ship to Chignik and hills, ca. 1912 Native couple, Chignik, ca. 1912c. 1912Native couple, Chignik, ca. 1912
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
The story

How Chignik came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chignik.

Read it all →

On April 17, 1911, a gale blew ashore numerous ships such as the Benjamin F. Packard, the Star of Alaska, and the Jabez Howes, a three-masted, full-rigged ship owned by the Columbia River Packers Association and used as a cannery tender.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Chignik, 1899 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899In the archiveFMIB 38716 Fish Scow at Dock
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901Post officeThe Chignik post office opens
  5. 1907In the archiveChignik Cannery, Chignik, Alaska, between 1907 and 1915
  6. 1910In the archiveChignik, Alaska, between 1905 and 1915
  7. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Chignik on the map in 1963

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

Chignik on the 1963 USGS map 1963Chignik B-2 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 Chignik.

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.

FMIB 38716 Fish Scow at Dock
Retake this viewFMIB 38716 Fish Scow at Dock, 1899

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Chignik, census by census

0100200 19401960198020002020 Peak: 253

Between 79 and 253 people in every census since 1940.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Help out

Finish Chignik’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewFMIB 38716 Fish Scow at Dock: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Chignik LagoonIts story

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Weigh in
Has Chignik changed for the better?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

Start a conversation

From Wikimedia Commons (18), 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.

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