Norton Memorial. Erected by a grateful city, the Norton Memorial stands on a grassy plot at St. Helens and Tacoma Avenue and 1st St. South. A likeness of Percy Dunbar Norton, public servant and pioneer businessman, is engraved upon the stone. A small drinking fountain (later removed prior to WWII when scrap metal was essential for national defense) is attached. Percy Norton, related by marriage to two of the founders of the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co., served as manager of the firm as well as Tacoma City Council president at the time of his death, age 44, in April of 1900. Flags were flown at half mast at City Hall, colors lowered on mastheads of vessels loading at the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. dock, as well as the emblem on the lumber company offices' flagpole. His desk at council chambers would be draped in mourning for 30 days. The Tacoma Ledger in its April 14, 1900, tribute to Mr. Norton praised his "indomitable pluck, courage, and ability" in the building up of Tacoma and his "business sagacity and management" on the city council in enabling the city to "weather the hard times with its credit untouched." The Norton Memorial still partially remains at the same site, now called the Norton Memorial Park at 99 Tacoma Avenue South. (Tacoma Ledger, April 14, 1900, p. 1-article on Mr. Norton)
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Tacoma--Historical Buildings and Sites