History & culture in Port Alexander

Port Alexander in brief

1. British explorer Captain George Vancouver recorded entering the cove in 1795, finding only a deserted village; the site was named in 1849 by Captain M.D. Tebenkov, governor of the Russian-American colonies. (maps.commerce.alaska.gov · checked Oct 16, 2026)
2. Salmon trollers began using the rich South Chatham Strait grounds as a seasonal base in 1913, and by 1916 Port Alexander had a fishing supply store, a Northland Trading and Packing Company shore station and a bakery, with many early families living in tents. (maps.commerce.alaska.gov · checked Oct 16, 2026)
3. Norwegian immigrant Karl Hansen ran the Pacific Mild Cure Company fish-buying station, sold supplies and fuel, and installed a wireless station, anchoring two prosperous decades of the town's economy. (maps.commerce.alaska.gov · checked Oct 16, 2026)
4. Through the 1920s and 30s a year-round boomtown grew around the trolling fleet — houses, stores, restaurants, a post office, a school, a soda fountain, butcher shop, dairy, dance hall and hotel — with over 1,000 fishing boats anchoring in the protected harbor each summer. (maps.commerce.alaska.gov · checked Oct 16, 2026)
5. Fish stocks crashed beginning in 1938 and World War II collapsed the economy; Hansen left bankrupt in the late 1940s, and by 1950 only 22 people lived in town year-round. (maps.commerce.alaska.gov · checked Oct 16, 2026)
6. State land sales and rebounding salmon runs drew new families in the 1970s; Port Alexander incorporated as a second-class city in 1974, seceding from the City and Borough of Sitka the same year. (seconference.org · checked Oct 16, 2026)