John Althoff from the Canadian Diocese of Vancouver Island established the first permanent Catholic presence in Alaska, then a U.S. territory.

His superior, Bishop Charles J. Seghers, sent Althoff to Wrangell, Alaska, to serve that town, the Cassiar mining district on the Stikine River, and the former Russian capital of Sitka.

During the second half of the 20th century, Alaska's population and business growth centered around Anchorage, even though Juneau remained the state's capital.

[6] The new archdiocese took the territory "lying west of Mount Saint Elias and Icy Bay" from the Diocese of Juneau, along with the rest of the vicariate apostolic.

To replace Hurley, John Paul II in 1991 appointed Bishop Roger Schwietz of the Diocese of Duluth as the next archbishop of Anchorage.

As the archdiocese continued to grow, the Cathedral of the Holy Family became too small to host major diocesan services.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 delayed the formal erection of the new archdiocese and installation of the new archbishop until September 17th, with a further restriction that the laity could participate only virtually.

Several of these symbols—notably the blue and white wavy lines (water), Polaris, and the anchor—also reflect the maritime heritage of the region.

Murphy left Anchorage for Boston in 1985, where he worked as a chaplain, after local police started investigating complaints against him.

[26] In October 2018, Bishop Etienne said that he would establish an independent commission to examine the personnel files of the archdiocese over the past 50 years for any new credible accusations of sexual abuse by priests against minors.

[27] In January 2020, the commission released the names of 14 clergy and diocesan employees with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors.