It was officially designated Wood Island in 1894 by the US Post Office and was the primary coastal settlement for commerce and trade for many years.

There followed a short period of accommodation and trade, after which the Russians engaged in brutal subjugation of the people, resulting in "epidemics, forced relocations, and extermination of those who resisted.

"[4] Russian naval officer Gavriil Davydov observed an Aleut winter ceremony on Woody Island in 1802.

They only had to look away for a moment and one of the young boys would grab the dish and run away; then the women would start chasing, and everyone roared with laughter.

[10] By 1911 only about 2000 sea otters remained in 13 small remnant populations,[11] making hunting unprofitable.

The North American Commercial Company, a fur trading enterprise, established a presence there in 1891, including a store.

[4] Ernest and Ida Roscoe built a Baptist Mission and orphanage on Woody Island in 1893.

[8] Over the next twenty years, the mission added a girls' quarters, boys' dormitory, office building, barn, carpenter shop, cannery, silo, and dining room.

During the eruption of the Novarupta volcano on the Alaska Peninsula in 1912, over 18 inches (460 mm) of ash was deposited on the island.

During the ash fall, lightning struck one of the antenna which started a fire that burned most of the wireless station.

Harry Martin, a survivor of the volcanic eruption, told U.S. Navy radioman Bart Phelps about the experience in 1924: What they didn't know was that a jolt of lighting or a heavy charge of static electricity had hit the antenna causing a fire which destroyed most of the station, their living quarters included.

The wireless station was decommissioned on February 28, 1931, and shortly thereafter the Federal government allowed the Territory of Alaska to use the remaining buildings for the Longwood School.

[4] After the mission and orphanage was relocated to the mainland, the entire island's population declined rapidly.

In 1941, the Civil Aeronautics Administration built the Kadiak Naval Air Station including a runway, flight service station, remote air ground, remote transmitter, low frequency range beacon, and VHF link terminal facilities.

They maintained the teletypes, transmitters, and radio receivers essential to supporting military and civilian aircraft operating in the North Pacific.

[8] During the 1950s, the American Baptist Church began offering a non-denominational summer camp on the island, which is still in operation today.