Unalaska, Alaska
City in the United States in Aleutians West Census Area
About Unalaska
The City of Unalaska (Aleut: Iluulux̂; Russian: Уналашка) is the main population center in the Aleutian Islands. The city is in the Aleutians West Census Area, a regional component of the Unorganized Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Unalaska is located on Unalaska Island and neighboring Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands off mainland Alaska. The population was 4,254 at the 2020 census, which is 81% of the entire Aleutians West Census Area. Unalaska is the second-largest city in the Unorganized Borough, behind Bethel.
The Aleut (Unangan) people have lived on Unalaska Island for thousands of years. The Unangan, who were the first to inhabit the island of Unalaska, named it "Ounalashka", meaning "near the peninsula". The regional native corporation has adopted this moniker, and is known as the Ounalashka Corporation. The Russian fur trade reached Unalaska when Stepan Glotov and his crew arrived on August 1, 1759. Natives, Russians and their Alaskan Creole descendants comprised most of the community's population until the mid-20th century, when the involvement of the United States in World War II led to a large-scale influx of people and construction of buildings all along the strategically located Aleutians.
Almost all of the community's port facilities are on Amaknak Island, better known as Dutch Harbor or just "Dutch". It is the largest fisheries port in the U.S. by volume caught. It includes Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and Fort Mears, U.S. Army, a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Dutch Harbor lies within the city limits of Unalaska and is connected to Unalaska by a bridge. Amaknak Island is home to almost 59 percent of the city's population, although it has less than 3 percent of its land area.
As a result of the town's strong fishing industry, Unalaska has also become notable for its large population of bald eagles, which number in the hundreds and were attracted to the area by human activity.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How Unalaska is governed
Form of government not yet listed.
0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.
Residents of Unalaska
Registered voters elect the officials below.
-
Mayor
Executive
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.
-
City Manager / Administrator
Executive
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).
-
Police Chief
Administration & departments
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
Leads the police department.
-
Fire Chief
Administration & departments
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
Leads the fire and emergency services department.
-
Public Works Director
Administration & departments
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.
-
Finance Director
Administration & departments
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
The budget, taxes, and city accounts.
-
Planning & Zoning Director
Administration & departments
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
Land use, zoning, building permits.
-
Parks & Recreation Director
Administration & departments
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
Parks, programs, and public facilities.
-
-
-
City Council
Legislative
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.
-
City Clerk
Administration & departments
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.
-
City Attorney
Administration & departments
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.
-
Boards & Commissions
Legislative
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.
-
-
Municipal Court
Judicial
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.
-
Municipal Judge
Judicial
Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this
Presides over the municipal court.
-
- Website
- ci.unalaska.ak.us
Looking for your county, state and federal representatives too? See who represents 99685 or everyone in Alaska.
Population over time
From 4,376 in 2010 to 4,254 in 2020 (−2.8%).
Show the numbers
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 4,254 |
| 2010 | 4,376 |
History
The island of Unalaska was first inhabited by the Aleut people.
Unalaska and Amaknak islands contained 24 settlements with more than 1,000 Aleut inhabitants in 1759, when the first Russian group under Stepan Glotov came and started trading for three years on Umnak and Unalaska. Between 1763 and 1766, a conflict between the Russian fur traders and the Unalaska Natives occurred; the Aleuts destroyed four Russian ships and killed 175 hunters/traders. In the 1760s, Unalaska was temporarily used as a Russian fur trading post. The post was permanently established in 1774, and was eventually incorporated into the Russian-American Company. It was there that Captain James Cook encountered the navigator Gerasim Izmailov in 1778.
In 1788, the Spanish made contact with the Russians in Alaska for the first time. An expedition by Esteban José Martínez and Gonzalo López de Haro visited several Russian settlements. Their westernmost visit was to Unalaska. On August 5, 1788, they claimed Unalaska for Spain, calling it Puerto de Dona Marie Luisa Teresa.
Alexander Andreyevich Baranov was shipwrecked here in 1790.
In 1825, the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Ascension was built in Unalaska. The founding priest, Ivan Veniaminov, later canonized as Saint Innocent of Alaska, composed the first Aleut writing system with local assistance, and translated scripture into Aleut. Between 1836 and 1840, measles, chicken-pox and whooping-cough epidemics drastically reduced the population; thus, at the end of the decade, only 200 to 400 Aleuts lived in Unalaska.
On October 18, 1867, the United States purchased Alaska, which made Unalaska part of the U.S. territory.
In 1880, the Methodist Church opened a school and a clinic for orphans in Unalaska. Between 1899 and 1905, the Gold Rush brought many ships through Dutch Harbor, where the North American Commercial Company had a coaling station.
During the first half of the century, the island was touched by numerous epidemics. The first epidemic occurred in 1900; in 1919, the Spanish flu touched the island. These epidemics contributed to a dramatic decrease of the population in Unalaska.
Fearing the threat from Imperial Japan during World War II, the neutral United States began fortifying Dutch Harbor in 1940, resulting in the construction of the Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and Fort Mears. Construction finished entirely by September 1941, three months before the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that caused the U.S. to enter the war. On June 3, 1942, the town was attacked by Japanese air forces in the Battle of Dutch Harbor, part of the Aleutian Islands Campaign. After the attack and the Japanese occupations of Kiska and Attu, almost all of the native residents of Amaknak Island were evacuated. Many were held under poor conditions in camps in Southeast Alaska for the duration of the war; a substantial number of the internees died during the imprisonment.
Beginning in the 1950s, Unalaska became a center of the Alaskan king crab fishing industry; by 1978, it was the largest fishing port in the United States. A 1982 crash in king crab harvests decimated the industry, and the mid-1980s saw a transition to bottom fishing.
On October 25, 1977, an extremely intense extratropical system struck the area. A pressure of 926 millibars (27.35 inHg) was recorded at Dutch Harbor, which was the lowest non-tropical pressure ever recorded in the United States until December 31, 2020, when another system struck the islands with a pressure of 924.8 millibars (27.31 inHg). Winds in excess of 100 knots caused the shipwreck of MV Kuroshima in 1997.
Recent history
The city has struggled with problems like alcoholism and unemployment in the past; while these problems still persist, the situation has improved in recent years. One example is the Elbow Room, a bar which locally, and later abroad, became infamous for its raucousness. It was closed in 2005.
Since 2005, the Discovery Channel's documentary show Deadliest Catch has focused on fishermen who are based in Dutch Harbor.
In 2023, Starlink's first community gateway, a small ground station, was built in Unalaska.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.