Ownership was divided through the years, until the Commonwealth of Virginia seized the property in 1876 and 1877 in lieu of unpaid taxes.

From 1877, ownership was again divided and subdivided until 1889, when it was held by various trustees for the Wallops Island Club.

In 1947, the U.S. Navy began using the upper two-thirds of the island on a lease-rental basis for aviation ordnance testing.

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), forerunner of NASA, leased the lower 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) for rocket launching facilities.

[2] The island is used primarily for the Wallops Flight Facility, including the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, although the name also refers to the peninsula area surrounding the island for the purpose of mailing addresses.