A scattering of buildings on the site of an old Native American camping ground. By the 1940s, the culture of Japanese oysters along the sand bars and in the shallows of the lagoon had been developed.

General James M. Ashton filed a plat for the town of Purdy on March 1, 1885. A post office was established there on January 26, 1885. Ernest R. Purdy, a Tacoma grocer, furnished lumber for the first school.