History and Facts

The area around Dillingham was originally inhabited by both Eskimos and Athabascans and became a trade center when Russians erected the Alexandrovski Redoubt Post in 1818. Local Native groups and Natives from the Kuskokwim Region, the Alaska Peninsula, and Cook Inlet mixed together as they came to visit or live at the post.

The community was known as Nushagak by 1837, when a Russian Orthodox mission was established. In 1881 the U.S. Signal Corps established a meteorological station at Nushagak. In 1884 the first salmon cannery in the Bristol Bay region was constructed by Arctic Packing Co., east of the site of modern-day Dillingham. Ten more were established within the next seventeen years.

The post office at Snag Point and town were named after U.S. Senator Paul Dillingham in 1904, who had toured Alaska extensively with his Senate subcommittee during 1903. The 1918-19 influenza epidemic struck the region, and left no more than 500 survivors. A hospital and orphanage were established in Kanakanak after the epidemic, 6 miles from the present-day city center. The Dillingham town site was first surveyed in 1947. The city was incorporated in 1963

Quick Facts

Location: Approximately 350 miles south west of Anchorage, set against a backdrop of the Wood River Mountains.

Population: 2,249 (2020 Census)

Size: 36.07 Square Miles, Total
         33.34 Square Miles, Land
         2.73, Square Miles, Water
 

Climate: 61°/49° (July); 20°/9° (January)

Public Libraries: 1

Public Schools  K-12: 1

Hotels: 1

Annual Events: Beaver Round-Up Festival, Blessing of the Fleet, Sockeye Wrestling Tournament