parks_tacoma » Page 52 of 52

If you have lived your life the past half century the South Sound region, you know McKinley Park has a reputation for rape and murder. Those are just facts. That said, serious effort has been made to improve the park, a once fantastic destination park in Tacoma. There are newer signs, open walkways and playground equipment installed. I still was unwilling to venture down to the bottom without others with me, even when I was packing a gun, so that is saying something. Homeless people frequently appear here as well, good luck, you have been warned. Thankfully, the local community (Friends of McKinley Park) has work parties and does its best to keep out the riffraff from moving in.

On April 11, 1901 the Tacoma Land and Improvement Company donated 22 acres on the east side of the city to be perpetually used and enjoyed as a public park. The land was named East Park. It was covered with native trees, vines, and underbrush. Landscaping crews worked building footpaths and bridle trails interspersed with flowerbeds and rustic seating to transform the rough, steep hill into a scenic park, keeping any natural object that were useful. Several months after the parks dedication President McKinley was shot by an assassin while attending the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition. He died eight days later on September 14, 1901. The next day Martin Hoveland, the foreman of a landscaping crew working in the park announced to his crew that, from now on, this is McKinley Park. Three weeks later, the Board of Park Commissioners adopted a resolution changing the name of the park from East Park to McKinley Park as a memorial to the country’s 25 president.

During the early development of the park, workmen fashioned the name of the park out of stones on the steep hillside rising up from South 30th Street. These stones were painted white so that the name of the park was plainly visible from boats and trains entering the city. The stones covered such a large area that they had to be removed as park development work progressed.

By the 1920s improvements at McKinley Park included a wading pool, comfort station (restroom), recreation building, volley ball courts, and playground equipment in the parks lower level. Unfortunately, attendance in the park diminished by the 1950s and the facilities and equipment were removed.

McKinley Park was significantly affected by the construction of Interstate Highway 5 requiring the sale of four acres of the park. When interstate construction was completed in 1965, the roadway effectively walled off McKinley Park from a large portion of the city