Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Kupreanof, AK

Kupreanof is an incorporated city on the eastern shore of Kupreanof Island in the Petersburg Borough of Southeast Alaska, across the Wrangell Narrows from the city of Petersburg on Mitkof Island.

The city was incorporated in 1975, after first appearing on the 1930 census as the unincorporated village of West Petersburg, a name it kept through the 1970 census before formally changing to Kupreanof.

Kupreanof's Lingit name is Aansadaak'w, and the city lies at an elevation of about 10 feet on the island it shares its name with.

With a population of 21 in the 2020 census, down from 27 in 2010, Kupreanof was the smallest incorporated city in Alaska at that census.

The city's population peaked at 60 in the 1950 census and has never exceeded that figure, falling to 26 in 1960 and 23 in both 1990 and 2000.

Kupreanof was once called West Petersburg and was a thriving community of fur farms and commercial fishermen in the early to mid-20th century, before most residents gradually moved across the narrows to the larger city of Petersburg.

Among the incorporators of Kupreanof was former Petersburg Grade School Principal Harold Bergman, and Robert 'Bobby' Dolan served as the city's mayor for over 40 years.

Kupreanof remained a separate municipality when the Petersburg Borough was incorporated, and it now lies inside the Petersburg Borough, whereas before it was a home-rule city inside the unorganized Petersburg Census Area.

The 2020 census recorded 7 households and 24 housing units in Kupreanof, of which 70.8 percent were vacant, and the median age of residents was 61.5 years.

The city covers about 4.65 square miles in total, of which about 3.02 square miles is land and about 1.63 square miles is water, according to the 2020 Gazetteer.