Residents moved from their former village on Skowl Arm (now called Old Kasaan), starting in 1893, and mostly in the period 1902–1904. In 1901, the leaders of Kasaan were persuaded by the Kasaan Bay Mining Company to relocate the entire village to a new site closer to the copper mine. This migration was prompted by the promise of jobs and a school occasioned by development of copper mining and a cannery near the present location. Kasaan was established as a city in 1976.