On Tuesday, members of the Macomb Tree Board and Macomb Beautiful joined City Forester Skip Bowles to plant three trees – two Jefferson American Elms and one October Glory Maple – at Macomb’s newest park, the William H. Thorpe Memorial Park in the 1200 block of East Pierce Street. The park broke ground in August 2025, with his widow, Helen Thorpe, who still resides in Macomb, and many members of his family, in attendance.
The late Madge Howe Cooper, who was a longtime member of Macomb Beautiful, had bequeathed funding to Macomb Beautiful to plant trees in the downtown area, as well as along East and West Jackson streets. The remainder of the bequest was used to plant the first three shade trees in the Thorpe Park, according to her son, Tim Howe, who had previously served as the city forester and is a member of the Tree Board.
The park on Macomb’s east side honors Macomb’s – and the county’s - first Black police officer, who was hired in 1962. Even as an officer – and a Korean War veteran, Thorpe faced segregation, prejudice and violence. After several years on the force, he was promoted to sergeant, which was a rare occurrence for predominantly white police departments. When he was first hired, he was assigned only menial tasks and couldn’t take his service revolver home following his shift, unlike his white counterparts. Thorpe retired from the Macomb Police Department in 1984, after 23 years of service.
After retiring, he attended and graduated from barber college in Peoria and then began working at WIU in the Physical Plant, where he became a supervisor. After 13 years at WIU, he retired and became a bus driver for Go West where he was awarded as the 2012-2013 Driver of the Year. When he retired from Go West after 10 years, he worked as a barber. Thorpe passed away on Oct. 21, 2019 at the age of 86 at his home in Macomb.
Thorpe’s nephew, Carl, spearheaded the park initiative, and he raised almost $45,000 for the park, which included $30,000 from the City of Macomb through the American Rescue Plan Act.
The park also includes a ‘story walk,’ which is composed of eight markers that tell the story of Bill and the Thorpe family. A plaque at the east end of the park is dedicated to the late trailblazer.
