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History · Raft Island

Half of Raft Island’s homes were built after 1970

Most of Raft Island was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1970. Below: maps from 1942 on.

0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Raft Island’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Raft Island are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Raft Island’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Raft Island’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Raft Island came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Raft Island.

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Lieutenant Peter Puget of the Vancouver Expedition [led by Captain George Vancouver, arriving here in 1792] was the first recorded person that we know of to have landed on what we call today Raft Island. According to Edmond S. Meany, Raft Island was probably named from its appearance. In 1841 Charles Wilkes of the United States Exploring Expedition gave it the name "Allshouse Island", probably for Joseph Allshouse, a member of his crew.

In 1889, the Stevens brothers claimed the entire island and they are recorded as its first settlers. F. Stevens held 27 acres on the western end of the island and his brother Jacob claimed the remaining 133 acres. Ownership, however, was recorded under Jacob Steven’s name and held by the brothers until 1900.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Raft Island on the map, 1942 to 1997

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Raft Island. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Raft Island on the 1942 USGS mapRaft Island on the 1953 USGS mapRaft Island on the 1968 USGS mapRaft Island on the 1976 USGS mapRaft Island on the 1997 USGS map1942Gig Harbor sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Raft Island.

Famous people

Famous people close to Raft Island

Nobody well known was born in Raft Island itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

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Bing CrosbyAmerican singer and actor · b. 1903
Frank HerbertAmerican writer · b. 1920
Cam GigandetAmerican actor · b. 1982
Dyan CannonAmerican film and television actress, director,… · b. 1937
Richard BrautiganAmerican novelist, poet, and short story writer · b. 1935
Philip AbelsonUS physicist, editor of the journal Science, an… · b. 1913

Questions about Raft Island’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.