The ghost of a former town at the east end of Deception Pass. First called Deception, then Fidalgo City, two adjacent townsites were platted in 1889, Gibraltar and Fidalgo. To secure land grants offered as a bonus for a railroad construction, trackage of the Anacortes and Fidalgo City Electric Railway was completed in 1891. Two train trips were made – enough to ensure title to the grants—and the tracks torn up. Local real estate values promptly faded. After the Spanish-American War the settlements united under the present name.

In 1901, the post office was named Dewey, for Admiral George Dewey, hero of the naval Battle of Manila Bay in 1898.