A Short History of Petersburg

Petersburg was named after Peter Buschmann, a Norwegian immigrant and a pioneer in the cannery business who came to America in the late 1890's. By the year 1900, he had built the Icy Strait Packing Company cannery, a sawmill, and a dock. His family's homesteads grew into this community, populated largely by people of Scandinavian origin.

By 1920, 600 people lived in Petersburg year-round. During this time, fresh salmon and halibut were packed in glacier ice for shipment. Alaska's first shrimp processor, Alaska Glacier Seafoods, was founded in 1916. A cold storage plant was built in 1926.