Kodiak (

Alutiiq The Alutiiq (pronounced in English; from Promyshlenniki Russian Алеутъ, "Aleut"; plural often "Alutiit"), also called by their ancestral name ( or ; plural often "Sugpiat"), as well as Pacific Eskimo or Pacific Yupik, are a Yupik ...

: ) is the main city and one of seven communities on

Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (, ) is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the Un ...

in Kodiak Island Borough,

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside world goes through this city via ferryboat or airline. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city is 5,581, down from 6,130 in 2010. It is the tenth-largest city in

. Inhabited by

natives for over 7,000 years, Kodiak was settled in 1792 by subjects of the Russian crown. Originally named Paul's Harbor, it was the capital of

Russian Alaska From 1732 to 1867, the Russian Empire laid claim to northern Pacific Coast territories in the Americas. Russian colonial possessions in the Americas were collectively known as Russian America from 1799 to 1867. It consisted mostly of present-d ...

. Russian harvesting of the area's

sea otter The sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of ...

pelts led to the near extinction of the animal in the following century and led to wars with and enslavement of the natives for over 150 years. The city has experienced two natural disasters in the 20th century: a

volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to r ...

fall from the 1912 eruption of Novarupta and a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

from the

1964 Alaska earthquake The 1964 Alaska earthquake, also known as the Great Alaska earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM Alaska Standard Time, AKST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964.

. After the

Alaska Purchase The Alaska Purchase was the purchase of Russian colonization of North America, Alaska from the Russian Empire by the United States for a sum of $7.2 million in 1867 (equivalent to $ million in ). On May 15 of that year, the United St ...

by the United States in 1867, Kodiak became a

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

center which continues to be the mainstay of its economy. A lesser economic influence includes tourism, mainly by those seeking outdoor adventure trips.

Salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

halibut Halibut is the common name for three species of flatfish in the family of right-eye flounders. In some regions, and less commonly, other species of large flatfish are also referred to as halibut. The word is derived from ''haly'' (holy) and ...

, the unique

Kodiak bear The Kodiak bear (''Ursus arctos middendorffi''), also known as the Kodiak brown bear and sometimes the Alaskan brown bear, inhabits the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in southwest Alaska. It is one of the largest recognized subspecies or p ...

elk The elk (: ''elk'' or ''elks''; ''Cervus canadensis'') or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. ...

Sitka deer The Sitka deer or Sitka black-tailed deer (''Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis'') is a subspecies of mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''), similar to the black-tailed deer, Columbian black-tailed subspecies (''O. h. colombianus''). Their name origin ...

(black tail), and

mountain goat The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a cloven-footed mammal that is endemic to the remote and rugged mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to truly alpine species, it is a s ...

s attract hunting tourists as well as fishermen to the Kodiak Archipelago. The

Alaska Department of Fish and Game The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) is a department within the government of Alaska. ADF&G's mission is to protect, maintain, and improve the fish, game, and aquatic plant resources of the state, and manage their use and development i ...

maintains an office in the city and a website to help hunters and fishermen obtain the proper permits and learn about the laws specific to the Kodiak area. The city has four public elementary schools, a middle and high school, as well as a branch of the

University of Alaska The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-, sea-, and space-grant research university in College, Alaska, United States, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was e ...

. An

antenna farm An antenna farm, satellite dish farm or dish farm is an area dedicated to television or radio telecommunications transmitting or receiving antenna equipment, such as C band (IEEE), C, Ku band, Ku or Ka band, Ka Band (radio), band satellite dish ...

at the summit of Pillar Mountain above the city historically provided communication with the outside world before fiber optic cable was run. Transportation to and from the island is provided by ferry service on the

Alaska Marine Highway The Alaska Marine Highway (AMH) or the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is a ferry service operated by the U.S. state of Alaska. It has its headquarters in Ketchikan, Alaska. The Alaska Marine Highway System operates along the south-central ...

as well as local commercial airlines.

History

Indigenous peoples

Archaeological evidence suggests that the

Kodiak Archipelago The Kodiak Archipelago () is an archipelago (group of islands) south of the main land-mass of the state of Alaska (United States), about by air south-west of Anchorage in the Gulf of Alaska. The largest island in the archipelago is Kodiak Islan ...

has been home to the

for at least 7,000 years. In their language, ''qikertaq'' means "island".

Russian control: 1700s–1867

The first Europeans to sight Kodiak Island were the explorers

Vitus Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering ( , , ; baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering (), was a Danish-born Russia ...

and

Aleksei Chirikov Aleksei Ilyich Chirikov (; 1703 – November 14, 1748) was a Russian navigator and captain who, along with Vitus Bering, was the first Russian to reach the northwest coast of North America. He discovered and charted some of the Aleutian Islands w ...

, during the 1741 Second Kamchatka Expedition. In the early 1750s the Russian fur trading merchant and explorer Stepan Glotov met a Kodiak Islander in the Aleutian Islands, who told him about the island. On his next voyage Glotov sailed to Kodiak Island, arriving in 1763. The Russians called the island ''Kad’yak'' (), after the Alutiiq word ''qikertaq''. Several other Russians made fur hunting voyages to Kodiak Island in the 1770s. In 1778 the British captain

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

explored the area and wrote of "Kodiak" in his journals. In 1779 the Spanish explorers Arteaga y Bazán and

Bodega y Quadra Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra (22 May 1743 – 26 March 1794) was a Hispano-Peruvian naval officer operating in the Americas. Assigned to the Pacific coast Spanish Naval Department base at San Blas, in Viceroyalty of New Spain (present ...

reached

Afognak Afognak (Alutiiq: ''Agw’aneq''; ) is an island in the Kodiak Archipelago north of Kodiak Island in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is long from east to west and wide from north to south and has a land area of , making it the 18th largest i ...

in the

. In 1792, the Russian

Shelikhov-Golikov Company The Shelikhov-Golikov Company (SGC) was a Russian fur trading venture, founded by Irkutsk entrepreneurs Grigory Shelikhov and Ivan Larionovich Golikov in 1783. Formed in Eastern Siberia during the 1780s along with several competing companies, t ...

chief manager Alexander Baranov moved the post at Three Saints Bay (established in 1784) to a new site in St. Paul's Harbor (, ''Svyato-Pavlovskoy Gavani''). This developed as the nucleus of modern Kodiak.Khlebnikov, K.T., 1973, ''Baranov, Chief Manager of the Russian Colonies in America,'' Kingston: The Limestone Press, Baranov considered Three Saints Bay a poor location because it was too indefensible. The relocated settlement was first named ''Pavlovskaya Gavan'' ( – Paul's Harbor). A warehouse was built in what became one of the key posts of the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, a precursor of the

Russian-American Company The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, United American Company. Emperor Paul I of Russia chartered the c ...

and a center for harvesting the area's vast population of

s for their prized pelts. The warehouse still stands as the Baranov Museum. Because the First Native cultures revered this animal and would never harm it, the Russians had wars with and enslaved the

Aleuts Aleuts ( ; (west) or (east) ) are the Indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleuts and the islands are politically divided between the US state of Alaska ...

during this era.

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

missionaries settled on the island by the end of the 18th century, continuing European settlement of the island. They held the liturgy in native Tlingit from 1800. The capital of

Russian America Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

was moved to Novoarkhangelsk (modern-day Sitka) in 1804. The Russian-American Company was established in 1799 as a joint-stock company by decree of

Emperor Paul Paul I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination in 1801. Paul remained overshadowed by his mother, Catherine the Great, for most of his life. He adopted the laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules that lasted ...

to continue the harvest of sea otter and other fur-bearing animals and establish permanent settlements. By the mid-19th century, the sea otter was almost extinct and 85% of the First Native population had disappeared from exposure to European diseases.

American control: 1867–present

When Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867, Kodiak developed as a center for commercial fishing, and canneries dotted the island in the early 20th century until global farm-raised salmon eliminated these businesses. New processing centers emerged and the industry continues to evolve. During the

presidency of Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt's tenure as the 26th president of the United States began on September 14, 1901, and expired on March 4, 1909. Roosevelt, a Republican Party (United States), Republican, took office upon the Assassination of William McKinley, a ...

, animals such as the

(black tail),

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

muskrat The muskrat or common muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over various climates ...

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

s, and others were introduced to the island and the

Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge in the Kodiak Archipelago in southwestern Alaska, United States. Description The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge includes the southwestern two-thirds of Kodiak ...

was created. Kodiak was severely impacted by the 1912 eruption of Novarupta. Though situated southeast of the eruption center, the town was covered with of ash over a short period of time. Townspeople sheltered in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Manning which was docked nearby. As Kodiak was incorporated in 1941, the U.S. feared attack from Japanese during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and turned the town into a fortress. Roads, the airport,

Fort Abercrombie Fort Abercrombie, in North Dakota, was a United States Army fort established by authority of an Act of Congress, March 3, 1857. The act allocated twenty-five square miles of land on the Red River of the North in Dakota Territory to be used for ...

, and gun fortifications improved the island's infrastructure. When Alaska became a state in 1959, government assistance in housing, transportation, and education added additional benefits. In March 1964, a tectonic

struck the city during the

1964 Alaska earthquake The 1964 Alaska earthquake, also known as the Great Alaska earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM Alaska Standard Time, AKST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964.

with waves that killed 15 people and caused $11 million in damage. Some areas near Kodiak were permanently raised by . It wiped out the neighboring Native villages of Old Harbor and Kaguyak. The

Standard Oil Company Standard Oil Company was a corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founded in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller. The ...

, the Alaskan King Crab Company, and much of the fishing fleet were also destroyed. File:Kodiak, Alaska 1900s.jpg, Kodiak, sometime shortly after 1900 File:Kodiak panorama, Alaska, June 22, 1908 (COBB 258).jpeg, Panorama of Kodiak, 1908 File:Alaska Commercial Co's store, Kodiak, Alaska, June 22, 1908 (COBB 103).jpeg, Alaska Commercial Company buildings in Kodiak, June 1908 File:Superintendent's residence, Alaska Commercial Co, Kodiak, Alaska, June 22, 1908 (COBB 260).jpeg, Alaska Commercial Company Superintendent's residence, 1908 File:Warehouse and wharf, Kodiak, Alaska, June 22, 1908 (COBB 257).jpeg, Warehouse and wharf in Kodiak, June 1908 File:Kodiak Harbor after the storm, Alaska 2009 disk 2 129 (2).jpg, Kodiak Harbor, July 2009

Geography

Kodiak is located on the eastern shore of

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , divided into of land and (28.66%) of water.

Climate

Kodiak has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(''Dfb'') with cold winters and mild summers. Precipitation is heavy year-round, though markedly less in the summer months, when the

Aleutian Low The Aleutian Low is a semi-permanent low-pressure system located near the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea during the Northern Hemisphere winter, driven by warm sea water compared to cooler land. It is a climatic feature centered near the Aleu ...

is at its weakest.

Notes

Demographics

Kodiak first appeared on the 1880 U.S. Census as the village of Saint Paul (not to be confused with the city of

St. Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

located in the Aleutian Islands). It reported a population of 288, of which 253 were

Alaskan Creoles Alaskan Creoles () are the descendants of ethnic Russians in colonial Alaska, known as Russian Creoles (), who intermarried with Aleut, Yupik, Inuit, and other Alaskan Native peoples. Russian Alaska In Russian Alaska, the term Creole was no ...

(a mixture of Russian and Native Alaskans), 20 Whites and 15 Aleuts. In 1890, it would report as "Kadiak" (the then-spelling). In 1900, it returned as "Kadiak Settlement." From 1910 onwards, it reported as Kodiak, and would formally incorporate in 1940. As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 6,334 people, 1,996 households, and 1,361 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 2,255 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 46.4% White, 0.7%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 10.5% Native American, 31.7%

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n, 0.9% Pacific Islander, 4.4% from other races, and 5.4% from two or more races. 8.5% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. At the 2020 Census, the population had declined to 5,581. There were 1,996 households, out of which 40.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.1% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 31.8% were non-families. 24.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.10 and the average family size was 3.64. In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.1% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 6.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 114.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 120.6 males. The median income for a household in the city was $55,142, and the median income for a family was $60,484. Males had a median income of $37,074 versus $30,049 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,522. 7.4% of the population and 3.7% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 8.4% were under the age of 18 and 0.0% were 65 or older. Kodiak is also home for a sizable community of Russian Orthodox Old Believers.

Government

Economy

Among the companies based in Kodiak is

Koniag, Incorporated Koniag is one of twelve Alaska Native regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. Koniag was incorporated in Alaska on June 23, 1972.Corporations DatabaseKonia ...

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Kodiak is an important environmental asset, which affects the fishing industry, particularly salmon fishing. Its wild game is coveted by hunters worldwide for the Kodiak bear and other game animals; there are strict laws governing fishing and hunting activities as well as hiking near spawning streams. Both the department and the city maintain websites and publish brochures in order to help communicate these strictly enforced laws. All of the city's hotels and businesses have these materials in prominent areas for guests, and licenses can be purchased in the city's main sporting goods store and online.

Military installations

The

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

operates a small training base near the city called Naval Special Warfare Cold Weather Detachment Kodiak which trains

United States Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main func ...

in cold weather survival and advanced tactics. The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

has a major presence in Kodiak, Alaska. * USCG SUPRTCN Kodiak - U.S. Coast Guard Support Center Kodiak * USCG Air Station Kodiak * * USCGC ''Cypress'' * USCGC ''Earl Cunningham'' * (Formerly) * (Formerly) * Aids to Navigation Team Kodiak * Communication Detachment Kodiak * North Pacific Regional Fisheries Training Center (NPRFTC) * Marine Safety Detachment Kodiak * Naval Engineering Support Unit (NESU) Detachment Kodiak * Electronic Systems Support Detachment Kodiak (ESD)

Community events

The city of Kodiak is home to a number of annual events that draw locals and people from off-island. The most well-known of these is Kodiak Crab Festival. Organized by the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce, the event takes place over

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

weekend. It includes a county fair-style main event, with carnival rides, food and game booths, and group activities. In addition, a number of events are organized over the three-day weekend that include a kayak race, a

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

, an

ultra-marathon An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of . The sport of running ultramarathons is called ultra running or ultra distance running. Various distances, surfaces, and formats are raced competitively, from the ...

, a mountain run called the Pillar Mountain Run and others. The official Pardoning of the Crab was added to The Kodiak Crab Fest in 2019. A crab is given a crab themed name, and then saved from the crab pot by a special guest, and then goes to live at the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center Aquarium. 2019: Sheldon, pardoned by US Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK). 2020: Unknown. 2021: Lenny Crabitz, pardoned by Kodiak City Manager Mike Tvenge.

Education

The

Kodiak Island Borough School District Kodiak Island Borough School District (KIBSD) is a school district headquartered in Kodiak, Alaska and serving Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (, ) is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainl ...

operates four elementary schools, one middle school and one high school (

Kodiak High School Kodiak may refer to: Places * Kodiak, Alaska, a city located on Kodiak island * Kodiak, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Kodiak Archipelago, in southern Alaska * Kodiak Island, the largest island of the Kodiak archipelago ** Kodiak Launc ...

) serving the town of Kodiak and the immediate area surrounding the city of Kodiak. A further 6 schools serve rural sites in the district and are operated as k-12 schools. The city is home to

Kodiak College Kodiak College is a public, two-year college in Kodiak, Alaska, that is a satellite campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage. It has a student body of approximately 1,000 and is also home to the Carolyn Floyd Library. History Kodiak College ...

, a satellite campus of the

University of Alaska Anchorage The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is a public university in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. UAA also administers four community campuses spread across Southcentral Alaska: Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Matanuska–Susitna C ...

. Within the public school district, there are eight rural schools. Kodiak is also home to

Saint Herman's Orthodox Theological Seminary Saint Herman’s Orthodox Theological Seminary is an Orthodox Christian seminary located in Kodiak, Alaska, with a campus in Anchorage. Established as a pastoral school in , the seminary now provides a number of educational programs to prepare stu ...

, a theological school founded in 1972 under the auspices of the

Orthodox Church in America The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an Eastern Orthodox Christian church based in North America. The OCA consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries and institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In ...

. Students from villages all over southern and southwestern Alaska study at St. Herman's in order to become readers or

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

in the Orthodox Church.

Media

* KMXT (100.1 FM) the community public radio station * KODK (90.7 FM) public radio station * KVOK-FM (101.1 FM) commercial radio station * KVOK (560 AM and 98.7 FM) country radio station and home of Kodiak Bears athletics *'' Kodiak Daily Mirror'' (Monday through Friday newspaper)

Transportation

Kodiak Airport Kodiak Benny Benson State Airport is a public and military use airport located four nautical miles (5 mi, 7 km) southwest of the central business district of Kodiak, a city on Kodiak Island in the U.S. state of Alaska. The ai ...

attracts both local and regional airlines, air taxis, and charter

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

s and helicopters which provide transportation to residents and tourists traveling on and off the island. The

provides further transportation via two ferries, MV ''Tustumena'' and MV ''Kennicott''. These ships can carry 211 and 748 passengers, respectively, and serve routes between Kodiak,

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

, and Whittier, although the ferry system no longer takes passengers to Seward. Floatplane and

bush plane A bush plane is a general aviation aircraft used to provide both scheduled and unscheduled passenger and flight services to remote, undeveloped areas, such as the Canadian north or bush, Alaskan tundra, the African bush, or savanna, Amazon rainf ...

companies regularly take tourists to remote areas and wilderness lodges both on the various islands of the Kodiak Archipelago and the Katmai coast for bear viewing, hunting, and hikes. The city business community also has a fleet of privately owned taxis as well as kayaks, mountain bikes, and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) for rent.

Health care

Kodiak has robust primary care, led by Kodiak Area Native Association, a Tribal Health Organization with HRSA support that sees Native and Non-Native persons around the island, and Kodiak Community Health Center with smaller primary care practices in Kodiak. Specialty medical services are intermittently available at Kodiak Area Native Association and at Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center. Hospital and emergency care are provided at Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center, the only hospital on Kodiak Island. Individuals located in the smaller surrounding communities are cared for in small village clinics and, when critically ill, may be airlifted into Kodiak via helicopter or air ambulance due to remoteness and lack of roads.

Energy

Most electrical energy for the city is provided from the

Terror Lake Hydroelectric Generating Station The Terror Lake Hydroelectric Generating Station is the principal power plant for Kodiak Island, Alaska. The Hydroelectricity station consists of three Pelton runner vertical shaft turbine units rated 11 megawatts each at 1200 feet Hydraulic head ...

owned by the Kodiak Electrical Association. Substantial amounts of energy are also provided by

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s and by diesel generators. There are six wind turbines that supply up to 1.5 MW each and have a blade length of 38.5 meters and overall height of 118.5 meters.

In popular culture

In 2012, rapper Pitbull was involved in an advertising campaign with

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

, in which the Walmart store that received the most

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

"likes" from June 18 to July 15, 2012, would have Pitbull visit and put on a show there. An orchestrated internet campaign urged people to vote for the most remote location imaginable, Kodiak, resulting in a sizable lead for that store. The enthusiasm for voting for Kodiak was also a reference to the lyrics of Pitbull's song "

Give Me Everything "Give Me Everything" is a song by American rapper Pitbull featuring Dutch DJ Afrojack and American singers Ne-Yo and Nayer. Written by the former three and produced by Afrojack, it was released on March 18, 2011, through Polo Grounds Music, M ...

", in which he rhymes "Kodak" with "Kodak". Walmart confirmed that Kodiak won. Pitbull visited on July 30, where he received a Key to the City from mayor Branson and then made an appearance before a crowd of hundreds at the Coast Guard base.

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel ...

docu-series ''

Coast Guard Alaska ''Coast Guard Alaska'' is an American Reality television#Documentary-style, reality documentary television series on The Weather Channel that premiered on November 9, 2011. The series follows members of the United States Coast Guard stationed in ...

'' follows the lives of Coast Guard members stationed in Kodiak.

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

carmaker

Škoda Auto Škoda Auto Akciová společnost, a.s. (), often shortened to Škoda, is a Czech automobile manufacturer established in 1925 as the successor to Laurin & Klement and headquartered in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic. Škoda Works became State ow ...

named their new

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definition ...

the

Škoda Kodiaq The Škoda Kodiaq is a mid-size crossover SUV with optional three-row seating manufactured by the Czech manufacturer Škoda Auto since 2016. The vehicle sits in Škoda's D-SUV, above the Škoda Kamiq, Kamiq and Škoda Karoq, Karoq. The vehicle i ...

, after the Alaskan brown bear, and in tribute Kodiak was renamed ''Kodiaq'' for one day (May 6, 2016). In a spelling change also intended to honor the indigenous

, the city was renamed with a number of signs changed across town, including the port facilities and city limits. The letter Q is a common ending for nouns in the

Alutiiq language The Alutiiq language (also called Sugpiak, Sugpiaq, Sugcestun,The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' (2006) is partially set in Kodiak, but was not filmed there.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities in Alaska Cities in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Micropolitan areas of Alaska Populated coastal places in Alaska on the Pacific Ocean Populated places established in 1791 Populated places in Russian America