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Ninilchik
 Ninilchik
lies on the west coast of the Kenai Peninsula on the Sterling Highway,
38 miles southwest of the City of Kenai, and 188 road miles from
Anchorage. It lies at approximately 60° 03' N Latitude, 151° 40' W
Longitude (Sec. 34, T001S, R014W, Seward Meridian). The community is
located in the Homer Recording District. The area encompasses 38 sq.
miles of land and 37 sq. miles of water.
The Peninsula was historically used by
Dena'ina Indians for fur-farming and fishing. In 1847, Grigorii and
Mavra Kvasnikoff moved their large family from Kodiak to Ninilchik.
Grigorii was a Russian Orthodox missionary from Moscow, and Mavra was a
Russian-Sugpiaq from Kodiak - the daughter of Efim Rastorguev, a Russian
shipbuilder, and Agrafena Petrovna, a Sugpiaq from Kodiak. The
Transfiguration of Our Lord Russian Orthodox Church was constructed in
1846. By 1880, the U.S. Census found 53 "Creoles" living in Ninilchik.
They subsisted on hunting, fur trapping, fishing, gardening and gold
panning. All nine original Native founding families of Ninilchik are
descendants of the Kvasnikoffs. In 1896, a school was built, and in
1901, the Russian Orthodox Church was redesigned and constructed at its
current site. A post office was established in 1925. The 1940s brought a
number of homesteaders to the area. In 1949, Berman Packing Company
began fish canning operations. In 1950, the Sterling Highway had been
completed through Ninilchik.
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