Minnie Nakano Park

General Location:

Located at the intersection between Sims Way and 10th Avenue

General Description:

A beautifully maintained pocket or mini park.

History:

The 1980 Port Townsend Parks Plan added the property called Triangle Mini Park 1 to park inventory. The property was maintained as a dahlia demonstration garden in the 1980s and 1990s by two dedicated citizens, Herb Heinle and Art Tickner, and various proposals were made to name the park after both or either of them.

In early 2005, the Master Gardeners indicated by letter to the City manager that they had ‘been maintaining the Dahlia Garden on Sims Way...for several years’ and asked the City for permission to renovate the garden and improve the irrigation system. The City entered into an agreement in August 2005 with Washington State University, the Jefferson County Extension Program of Washington State University and the Master Gardeners Foundation of Jefferson County ‘for establishing and maintaining the Port Townsend Sims Way Master Gardener Demonstration Garden’. The City provides the water and Master Gardeners maintain the garden according to a design provided with the agreement.

Previously referred as ‘Triangle 1’, ‘Dahlia Demonstration Garden’, or ‘Master Gardener’s Park’, the park became officially designated Minnie Nakano Park in 2025. The park is named after Minnie Nakano a Japanese American woman who lived in Port Townsend. She was an altruistic person who most notably helped the City of Port Townsend’s urban canopy flourish through her involvement with tree planting efforts. Minnie Nakano lived a rich and storied life as a Japanese American woman during the World War 2 era, forcibly removed from her home farm in Port Townsend and interned at the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. When she returned, Port Townsend residents rallied to protect the Nakano family’s farm from sale, and it was rightfully returned. She then worked in the Jefferson County Public Assistance Department helping residents connect with resources and was known as a friend to “hippies and artists”. She passed away in 2005. Minnie Nakano Park stands as the first park to be named for a woman in the City of Port Townsend.

Total Acreage:

0.13 acres