The story
The area was originally inhabited by Sámi people who spoke the Kemi Sámi language.
The first Finnish settler in the area was Paavali Pelkonen from Lumijoki, who came to the area, then called Kilpimaa, in the 1670s. The area was still property of the Sompio siida. Later it was a part of the Sodankylä parish, under which it acquired its first chapel in 1857. The community was called Alaperä at that time. Pelkosenniemi became a separate parish in 1916, as did Savukoski.
From Wikipedia’s article on Pelkosenniemi, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5