2001 Nisqually earthquake

The McNeil Island Corrections Center (MICC) was a prison in the northwest United States, operated by the Washington State Department of Corrections. It was on McNeil Island in Puget Sound in unincorporated Pierce County, near Steilacoom, Washington.Opened 148 years ago in 1875, it had previously served as a territorial correctional facility and then a federal penitentiary. Americans sentenced to terms of imprisonment by the United States courts that operated in China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries served their terms at McNeil Island. In the 1910s, inmates included Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz", who fatally stabbed a prison guard in March 1916. During World War II, eighty-five Japanese Americans who had resisted the draft to protest their wartime confinement, including civil rights activist Gordon Hirabayashi, were sentenced to prison terms at McNeil; all were pardoned by President Harry S. Truman in 1947. Career criminal and novelist James Fogle was sent to McNeil at the age of 17 in the 1950s. The state of Washington began to lease the facility from the federal government in 1981, and later that year the state department of corrections began moving prisoners into the facility, renamed "McNeil Island Corrections Center." The island was deeded to the state government in 1984.In November 2010, the department announced its plans to close the penitentiary by 2011, saving $14 million in the process.

The Special Commitment Center (SCC) in the US state of Washington is a post-prison-sentence treatment institution for people designated as sexually violent predators, located on McNeil Island. Civil commitment is the subject of controversy because it allows the involuntary civil confinement of a sex offender after the court's sentence has been fulfilled.

Eagle Island State Park is a public recreation area in south Puget Sound occupying the entirety of Eagle Island in Pierce County, Washington. The five-acre (2.0 ha) island sits in Balch Passage between McNeil and Anderson islands about 750 feet (230 m) off Anderson Island's north shore. The island was named for Harry Eagle, one of the party members of the Wilkes Expedition of 1841.Park activities include picnicking, beachcombing, birdwatching, and wildlife viewing. A primitive trail runs through thick brush with short spurs that lead to the beach. The narrow beach is mostly gravel with the exception of a point of sand on the south end of the island. Three moorage buoys are available for boaters. The park is administered as a satellite of Jarrell Cove State Park.

McNeil Island is an island in the northwest United States in south Puget Sound, located southwest of Tacoma, Washington. With a land area of 6.63 square miles (17.2 km2), it lies just north of Anderson Island; Fox Island is to the north, across Carr Inlet, and to the west, separated from Key Peninsula by Pitt Passage. The Washington mainland lies to the east, across the south basin of Puget Sound. The island has been owned by the government for many years; it was the location of a federal penitentiary for over a century, from 1875 to 1981. It was turned over to the Washington State Department of Corrections and became the McNeil Island Corrections Center, until it closed in 2011. It was the last remaining island prison in the country to be accessible only by air and sea.In November 2010, the state announced closure plans for 2011, saving $14 million. A detention center for violent sexual offenders remains on the island. The McNeil Island Historical Society was chartered in 2010 shortly after the closing of the prison for the purpose of educating the public about, and preserving, the rich history of McNeil Island.

Ketron Island is an island and a census-designated place (CDP) in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The island had a population of 24 persons according to the 2000 census, and 17 persons at the 2010 census. Ketron Island is located in southern Puget Sound just off the shoreline from Steilacoom. It lies between the mainland near the city of Steilacoom and Anderson Island near the extreme south end of Puget Sound. The island has a land area of 221 acres (89 hectares).

On August 10, 2018, a Horizon Air De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 was stolen from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (Sea–Tac) in Seattle, Washington. The perpetrator, 29-year-old Richard Russell, was a Horizon Air ground service agent with no piloting experience. After Russell performed an unauthorized takeoff, two McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle fighters were scrambled to intercept the aircraft. Sea–Tac air traffic control made radio contact with Russell, the sole occupant, who described himself as a "broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess." About 1 hour and 15 minutes after takeoff, Russell crashed the aircraft on lightly populated Ketron Island in Puget Sound, killing himself.

Anderson Island is the southernmost island in Puget Sound and a census-designated place of Pierce County, Washington, United States. It is accessible by boat or a 20-minute ferry ride from Steilacoom. Anderson Island is just south of McNeil Island. To the northwest, Key Peninsula is across Drayton Passage. The south basin of Puget Sound separates the island from the mainland to the southeast, while to the southwest the Nisqually Reach of Puget Sound separates the island from the mainland.

Steilacoom Community Church is a Protestant church in Steilacoom, Washington.

Pitt Island is a small island astride Pitt Passage in Puget Sound, located in Pierce County, Washington.

Fox Island is an island and census-designated place (CDP) in Pierce County, Washington, United States, in Puget Sound. It is located approximately 5 miles (8 km) from Gig Harbor. The island was named Fox by Charles Wilkes during the United States Exploring Expedition, to honor J.L. Fox, an assistant surgeon on the expedition. The population was 3,633 at the 2010 census.

Steilacoom () is a town in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 6,727 at the 2020 census. Steilacoom incorporated in 1854 and became the first incorporated town in what is now the state of Washington. It has also become a bedroom community for service members stationed at Joint Base Lewis–McChord. Based on per capita income, Steilacoom ranks 61st of 522 areas ranked in the state of Washington.

The Steilacoom Catholic Church (also known as the Church of the Immaculate Conception) is a Roman Catholic church in Steilacoom, Washington, United States. It was originally built in 1855 near Fort Steilacoom, but was moved to its present location in 1864. It was the first Catholic church built in Washington. It was a mission church.The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.