History of Unalakleet, Alaska
Unalakleet is located on Norton Sound and is part of the Bering Straits School District. It is known as the "place where the east wind blows" and means "the most southerly point" in the Inupiaq language. The community itself lies between two territories, which consist of two different cultural groups: Inupiaq Eskimos in the North and Yupik Eskimos just south of the border. Since Unalakleet is located between two such diverse peoples, it has served as a major trade center between the Athabaskans and the Inupiaq peoples. The trading post opened up in the 1830's by the Russian-American Company. In 1898 Lapland reindeer herders arrived in Unalakleet to teach herding to the locals. 1901 came along and the U.S. Army Signal Corps built a telegraph line between St. Michael and Unalakleet.
Since the beginning of the yearly Iditarod Dog Sled Race, which runs from Anchorage in south-central Alaska to Nome in the Northwest, Unalakleet always held a spot for the mushers to rest. Unalakleet is actually the 1st Iditarod checkpoint located on the Norton Sound.
As far as education is concerned, the Swedish Covenant Church opened up a mission in Unalakleet in 1887. The Evangelical Covenant Church even furthered this development by opening up a boarding school in 1954. This boarding school was open to students all over western Alaska where local schools didn’t exist. In 1985, the boarding school was shut down due to the changing of education and the building of schools in various villages all around the sound. The Bering Straits School District office was built in Unalakleet in 1983. Today, the Bering Straits School District heads 15 schools in northwest Alaska. Unalakleet Schools serves children and teenagers, grades K-12. The school itself is split into three sections: Unalakleet Elementary, Unalakleet Middle School, and Frank A.Degnan High School.
The citizens of Unalakleet are very serious basketball fans and players. Since the 1960’s, Unalakleet has held 6 State Championship awards: 3 from the Covenant High Wolverines and 3 from the Unalakleet Wolfpack. Basketball is and will always be a huge event for Unalakleet.
The Annikan Clinic, a regional clinic located in Unalakleet, was built in the more recent years and has open up to the local people and also to several villages in the surrounding area. It has been in service for over 2 years now and is continually improving with the additions of new staff and professionals in the health field.
There are three (3) stores, a gas station, one (1) restaurant, a cannery which is open in the summer for work, a bed & breakfast, and many local airports such as: Peninsula Airways, Hageland, Northern Air Cargo, Bering Air, and others. Another business headed and owned by local residents of Unalakleet, is a construction company called West Coast Construction.
The village of Unalakleet has come a long way in development and still continues to grow today.
