Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Bonney Lake, WA

Bonney Lake is a city in Pierce County, Washington, named for William P. Bonney, a historian recognized for preserving the history of the area's settlers.

Bonney Lake was incorporated as a town on February 28, 1949, after Kenneth and Bertha Simmons organized a cooperative venture to bring electricity and tap water to the plateau; Kenneth Simmons, considered the city's founder, served as its first mayor, and the new town had just 327 residents.

Several unsuccessful attempts were made to disincorporate Bonney Lake between 1952 and 1972, but the city survived and later became one of the fastest-growing municipalities in Pierce County.

The 2020 census counted 22,487 people in 7,364 households in Bonney Lake, a dramatic rise from only 275 residents in 1950 and 17,374 in 2010.

Between 2009 and 2015 the city and the Greater Bonney Lake Historical Society placed 13 historical markers, including one for the Naches Trail, the immigrant and military trail that crossed the plateau in the later 1800s.

The Bonney Lake Historical Society, formed in 2001, operates a small museum and archive near Allan Yorke Park holding some 5,500 cataloged items.

Bonney Lake abuts Lake Tapps, a reservoir created in 1911 by flooding four natural lakes: Crawford, Kirtley, Church, and Tapps.

The city is bisected by State Route 410, which connects it to the Seattle metropolitan area and to the northeast side of Mount Rainier.

In September 2020, the Washington Labor Day fires spread across about 500 acres in Bonney Lake and forced the evacuation of an estimated 2,500 residences for nearly a week.

Students in most of Bonney Lake attend schools in the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District, including Bonney Lake High School, home of the Panthers, which opened in September 2005 and enrolls roughly 1,700 students.