Morton Park

This eye-catching park is a showpiece of the West End. Brimming with colourful flowers and palm trees, Morton Park celebrates Vancouver’s gentle climate and vibrant spirit. Named for its bounding street, which in turn was named for Vancouver pioneer John Morton, this site’s conversion from housing to park happened sometime after 1910. John Morton was a newly arrived immigrant from Yorkshire, England when he, along with two of his associates, purchased 550 acres of land in the early 1860s. His intention was to build a brick factory and the purchase price of about $1 an acre earned the trio of friends the moniker of “the three greenhorns” as the land was thought worthless. It was John Morton who eventually laughed all the way to the bank when he later subdivided and sold off lots in what was to become Vancouver’s West End. Now the public art amazing laughing statues is a fitting tribute to the founder of the west end.