Purdy, Washington

---

title: "Purdy, Washington" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["unincorporated-communities-in-pierce-county,-washington", "unincorporated-communities-in-washington-(state)"] topic_path: "general/unincorporated-communities-in-pierce-county-washington" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purdy,_Washington" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
official_name	Purdy
settlement_type	Census-designated place
image_skyline	Purdy WA.jpg
image_caption	The town of Purdy with the Purdy Bridge and Purdy Sandspit visible in the background
pushpin_map	Washington
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	United States
subdivision_type1	State
subdivision_name1	Washington
subdivision_type2	County
subdivision_name2	Pierce
unit_pref	Imperial
area_total_sq_mi	2.34
area_land_sq_mi	2.34
population_as_of	2010
population_total	1544
coordinates
elevation_footnotes
elevation_ft	292
postal_code_type	ZIP code
postal_code	98332
area_code	253
blank1_name	GNIS feature ID
blank1_info	2585024
::

|official_name = Purdy |settlement_type = Census-designated place |image_skyline = Purdy WA.jpg |imagesize = |image_caption = The town of Purdy with the Purdy Bridge and Purdy Sandspit visible in the background |pushpin_map = Washington |pushpin_label_position = |pushpin_map_caption = |pushpin_mapsize = |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = United States |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_name1 = Washington |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_name2 = Pierce |founder = |named_for = |established_title = |established_date = |unit_pref = Imperial |area_total_sq_mi = 2.34 |area_land_sq_mi = 2.34 |population_as_of = 2010 |population_footnotes = |population_note = |population_total = 1544 |timezone = |utc_offset = |timezone_DST = |utc_offset_DST = |coordinates = |elevation_footnotes = |elevation_ft = 292 |postal_code_type = ZIP code |postal_code = 98332 |area_code = 253 |blank_name = |blank_info = |blank1_name = GNIS feature ID |blank1_info = 2585024 |website = |footnotes = ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Purdy,_Washington.jpg" caption="Purdy, Washington"] ::

Purdy is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place north of the city of Gig Harbor, and at the junction of Washington State Routes 16 and 302 on the northern boundary of Pierce County, Washington.

Purdy is on the shores of Burley Lagoon and Henderson Bay at the northern end of Carr Inlet in Puget Sound. The lagoon and bay are separated by a sandspit and the Purdy Bridge.

The Washington Corrections Center for Women, originally named the Purdy Treatment Center, is colloquially referred to as "Purdy", though it has a Gig Harbor address.

As of the 2010 US Census, Purdy had a population of 1544.

History

Prior to white settlement, the area was inhabited by Native Americans, who fished and clammed on Henderson Bay.

In 1884, one Isaac Hawk sold 19 acre of land for $23.75 ({{inflation|US|23.75|1884 |fmt=eq}}). The purchaser was logger and Civil War veteran Horace Knapp (born March 23, 1845, in Titusville, Pennsylvania; died February 1, 1913, in Gig Harbor, Washington), who subdivided the land into lots and blocks to form the town of Purdy. The town's naming rights were taken by Joseph W. Purdy, a grocer from Tacoma, Washington, who had donated the materials to construct the community's first schoolhouse; the schoolhouse's land was donated by Knapp.

On February 8, 1885, Knapp married Josephine Fuller, after which they moved to the Purdy area, making her Purdy's first white female settler. Knapp owned a floating logging camp on Burley Lagoon which included a cookhouse and bunks for the loggers.

A mill was built in 1885 by James Ashton, Joseph Purdy, William Rowland, and a Mr. Sherman on a small inlet of Burley Lagoon just down the hill from present day Peninsula High School. In 1886, the Purdy mill secured its first contract to provide huge lumber with one edge beveled for the construction of a wooden dry dock at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in nearby Bremerton. The mill could underbid their competitors because they used an extra saw to cut the bevel, which allowed them to use only four trips of the saw carriage instead of five.

Purdy became known as a "brawling mill town". The mill's success brought such conveniences as a grocery store and a post office to the area, the latter sited on Knapp's floating camp from 1886 to 1895 after which the function transferred to Springfield (Wauna, Washington). A long chute along present-day 144th Street brought logs down the hill to the water. Mr Ouellette, known as "the Frenchman", began canning native Olympia oysters gathered from his land on the Purdy spit around 1900. He gathered these native oysters to near extinction. Japanese oysters are still cultivated on Purdy's sandbars and in Burley Lagoon, as are clams.

The original schoolhouse was abandoned in the 1890s. In 1900, the second Purdy Schoolhouse was built to replace it on land (also donated by Knapp) located on Sherman Avenue (present-day 68th Avenue). Students spent every other semester at either the Purdy Schoolhouse, or the Wauna Schoolhouse to keep both schools active. The modern-day Peninsula High School now sits on the hill where one of the original schoolhouses was built. The Second schoolhouse stood until 2015, when it was demolished to build a new home.

Road to Gig Harbor

A road was badly needed from Purdy to Gig Harbor, Washington. Knapp contacted Mr. Fay, who represented the district. The board told him there was but $400.00 available. If he could complete a road for that amount, he could have it. He took it. Not having time to take charge himself, he turned it over to a Mr. McLoud, who lived across from the Murry Place south of Horseshoe Lake, Washington. Bismark Burnham of Gig Harbor bid the lowest for the right of way. But, all who could, donated labor. Knapp gave freely of time and labor, including the team. A road of sorts was built from the first creek below Purdy, winding easterly through the trees to connect with the Peacock Hill road to Olalla, Washington. Knapp was civic-minded. A layman, he had a good grasp of the law, business fundamentals, and surveying. He was consulted often and responded cheerfully.

References

• "My Father", by Earl H. Knapp

References

1. (2023). "Purdy WA ZIP Code". zipdatamaps.com.
2. {{GNIS. 2585024
3. "Gig Harbour Community Plan".
4. "Purdy, Washington Population".
5. (November 2004). "From Pioneer Stock: First White Woman Settler on Henderson Bay". Key Peninsula News.
6. The Tacoma Times, March 19, 1939, "First White Woman to Live at Henderson Bay Expires"
7. The Tacoma Times, June 11, 1948, "Old Purdy School Building Recalls Early Settlement"
8. (January 2008). "Key Peninsula News".
9. Peninsula Historical Society
10. (31 October 2013). "The WPA Guide to Washington: The Evergreen State". Trinity University Press.
11. (1979). "Along the Waterfront". Clinton Hull Publishing Co., Ltd..
12. "My Father", by Earl H. Knapp, Pgs. 8-9

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::