The island was named Fox by Charles Wilkes during the United States Exploring Expedition, to honor J.L.

The Fox Island Bridge crosses that passage to connect the road network to the mainland at Artondale.

After an encounter with local Native tribes ended with Puget ordering a musket fired as warning, the exploration party retreated to Fox Island, where they made camp for the night.

[7] In 1856, during the Puget Sound War, most of the Puyallup and "non-hostile" Nisqually Indians, totaling about 500 people, were removed from their homelands and displaced to Fox Island.

On January 5, 1856, Chief Leschi and other "hostile" Indians arrived at Fox Island with a flotilla of canoes.

While the hostile Indians were on Fox Island, Captain Maurice Maloney took the steamship Beaver to the island, hoping to rescue Swan, but forgot to bring landing craft and was unable to send men ashore.

But by the time the Active returned, more than 30 hours after Leschi had arrived on Fox Island, the hostile Indians had left.

Governor Isaac Stevens went to the Indian encampment on Fox Island to renegotiate the 1854 Treaty of Medicine Creek, which had been a major factor in the outbreak of war.

During the construction a historical Indian canoe was found preserved in the mud, which can be visited in the Fox Island history museum.

[8] On April 29, 1988, at 6 PM local time, a nuclear-powered US Navy submarine, the USS Sam Houston (SSBN-609), ran aground on Fox Island while operating in nearby Carr Inlet.

No damage was done to the island, and the ship entered a drydock at the Bangor Naval Submarine Base for minor repairs to its hull.