Stebbins ( esu, Tapraq, ik, Tapqaq; Atqa.wik) is a city in

Nome Census Area, Alaska Nome Census Area is a census area located in the U.S. state of Alaska, mostly overlapping with the Seward Peninsula. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,046, up from 9,492 in 2010. It is part of the unorganized borough and therefore ...

, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 556, up from 547 in 2000.

Geography

Stebbins is located at (63.511893, -162.274632), on the north side of St. Michael Island, which is on the south side of the

Norton Sound Norton Sound (russian: Нортон-Саунд) is an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, south of the Seward Peninsula. It is about 240 km (150 mi) long and 200 km (125 mi) wide. The Yukon ...

in western Alaska. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it (4.71%) is water.

Demographics

Stebbins first appeared on the 1940 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It formally incorporated in 1969. As of the census of 2000, there were 547 people, 123 households, and 104 families residing in the city. The population density was 15.6 people per square mile (6.0/km²). There were 134 housing units at an average density of 3.8 per square mile (1.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 5.12%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 0.18%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 93.97% Native American, and 0.73% from two or more races. Of the 123 households, 64.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.2% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.4% were non-families. 12.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 0.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.45 and the average family size was 4.86. In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 47.2% under the age of 18, 12.4% from 18 to 24, 22.1% from 25 to 44, 13.7% from 45 to 64, and 4.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 20 years. For every 100 females, there were 115.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 114.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $23,125, and the median income for a family was $28,214. Males had a median income of $33,125 versus $20,000 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $8,249. About 40.4% of families and 41.9% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 45.5% of those under age 18 and 33.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Stebbins is served by the

Bering Strait School District Bering Strait School District (BSSD) is a school district in northwestern Alaska, United States, serving approximately 1,700 students in grades K-12 in fifteen isolated villages. All schools in the district serve students of all ages, and most c ...

Tukurngailnguq School
is the only school in town and serves grades K through 12.

City Government

A July 2019 report revealed that all city police officers, including the chief of police, have lengthy criminal records (including

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for '' intimate partn ...

), and only one has any training.

History

A Russian fort, Redoubt St. Michael, was built at nearby

St. Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

by the

Russian-American Company The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty (russian: Под высочайшим Его Императорского Величества покровительством Российская-Американс� ...

in 1833. The name Stebbins was first recorded in 1900; the Yupik name for the village is ''Tapraq''. The first

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

in the area, in 1950, listed 80 Yupiks residing in Stebbins. The city was incorporated in 1969. The Stebbins economy depends on commercial fishing, for

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean ...

and other fish, and subsistence fishing, gardening and hunting, supplemented by part-time wage earnings. Hunting is for

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the fami ...

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

, and beluga whale. The city government and school of about 200 students provide the only full-time positions. The Stebbins/St. Michael Reindeer Corral Project was completed in 1993 for a herd on Stuart Island, just north of Stebbins. The reindeer are currently unmanaged.

References

External links

Stebbins School Website
{{authority control Cities in Alaska Cities in Nome Census Area, Alaska Populated coastal places in Alaska on the Pacific Ocean