Tag Archives: Norton

Norton Memorial Park, Tacoma

The other day when going to King’s Books, I noticed a delightfully compact city park. Yes, I must have been by it hundreds of times, but that day I really took note of it. And today in the freezing cold I went back to take some photos. The triangularly shaped park is located at 99 Tacoma Avenue South and fronts on Tacoma Avenue South, Saint Helen’s and South 1st. It has been around since 1927 and was named in honor of Percy Dunbar Norton, a Tacoma businessman and city counsel member who died at the age of 44 in April of 1900. The small park includes a commemorative column, a concrete bench, a couple of planters, an old fashioned street light and a bright blue street clock from 1993, which was not keeping accurate time.

More information about the park, including a photograph from 1927 can be found here.
http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/images/dt6n.asp?un=1&pg=1&address=99+TACOMA&stemming=&phonic=&fuzzy=&maxfiles=

Small parks like this one are often called pocket parks, as defined here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_park