Tacoma Street Playground is a 40-acre park located just off from Clark Street before it meets East Mountain. It is another Worcester park with a name that sells its resources and potential quite short.

The playground was built in 1999 for $68,500 and was made possible by the Worcester Housing Authority, the Parks Department, and residents of Great Brook Valley. At that time, it was the largest play structure in the city. Residents of Great Brook Valley advocated for a playground to be built at Tacoma Street following the death of an 8-year-old boy who was crushed under a steel road barrier he was playing on.

The playground is located next to where the city swimming pool used to be. The park still features the ancient, seemingly hand carved sign designating that you’re at Tacoma Street Pool. The Tacoma Street Pool was one of the last city pools to be built and was removed recently in the city’s efforts to remove all of the municipal swimming pools.

Back in 1999 when the playground was installed, a nature path was also implemented. A good portion of the park is wooded forest land, although there are no longer any nature paths through the woods.

Tacoma Street Playground features the aforementioned playground, a basketball court, and ample parking. The park boasts small rolling hills and large expanses of open space – particularly where the pool used to be.

The history on Tacoma Street Playground is not very well documented. The park was federally funded by the Department of Interior. The ancient pool sign attributes the park and pool to the Worcester Department of Interior – a mistake by whoever made the sign.