Lacey

Sister cities

• Mińsk Mazowiecki

History

Lacey was originally called Woodland after settlers Isaac and Catherine Wood, who claimed land there in 1853. By 1891, the railroad had come to the community of Woodland and the residents decided it was time to apply for a post office. The request was denied because there was already a town called Woodland on the Columbia River. The name Lacey was chosen for the new post office application, presumably after O. C. Lacey, a Justice of the Peace in Olympia. The small settlements of Woodland and Chambers Prairie consolidated into Lacey in the 1950s. Initial studies on incorporation of the Lacey area were undertaken in 1963 by a local chamber of commerce to prevent the City of Olympia from annexing the area. The study proposed an incorporated area of that would encompass 5,738 residents. A proposal to incorporate Lacey was placed before voters at a special election on August 11, 1964, and was defeated by a margin of over 300 votes. A second attempt to incorporate and 8,860 residents into the City of Lacey was proposed in 1966. Voters approved incorporation in the November 8, 1966, election, by a margin of approximately 200 votes. The City of Lacey was officially incorporated on December 5, 1966, after the election results were certified. The City of Olympia responded with a special election to annex that would be withdrawn from Lacey under provisions of a state law. The special election would encompass the entirety of Olympia rather than be solely restricted to the affected area; it was approved on January 24, 1967. At the time, the main industries were cattle, milk, forest products, and retail. Lacey later became a commuter town for Olympia, Fort Lewis, and, to some extent, Tacoma. In 1975, the local Jaycees chapter proposed moving the county seat for Thurston…

Geography

Lacey generally lies between Olympia to the west and the Nisqually River delta (which includes the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge) to the east. The city's northernmost point is along the Nisqually Reach on Puget Sound adjacent to Tolmie State Park and its southern boundary is a section of the BNSF Railway's Seattle Subdivision, a major freight and passenger railway. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  32,604
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  29,397
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  28,872
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  27,485
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  25,323
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  24,119
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  20,746
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  20,721

Most recent

• M 2.64 — 2026-10-15
  5 km SW of Wilderness Rim, Washington
• M 2.65 — 2026-10-14
  5 km WSW of Wilderness Rim, Washington
• M 4.15 — 2026-09-29
  6 km WNW of Wauna, Washington
• M 3.75 — 2026-09-05
  20 km E of Castle Rock, Washington
• M 2.84 — 2026-05-27
  4 km W of Wauna, Washington
• M 2.52 — 2026-03-17
  7 km SE of Mineral, Washington