The creek took its name from Socrates Hotchkiss Tryon, a pioneer who came overland to Oregon in 1849 and staked a donation land claim on 645 acres in the area north of today’s city of Lake Oswego. An interview with his son, S. H. Tryon, Jr., published in the Oregon Journal in 1928, gives us a valuable personal recollection of the family’s early years here. Tryon’s claim was largely forested with virgin Douglas fir and cedar. He built a small sawmill and a house on the flat area above the Willamette River (now Stampher Road) just north of the mouth of the creek that was to bear his name. There he farmed the land and in 1851 was joined by his wife, Frances, and three-year old-son, Socrates, Jr. A daughter, Sallie, was born in Oswego that same year. Tryon became partners with Capt. Joseph Kellogg and Capt. J. C. Ainsworth, but his hopes for a good life in Oregon were cut short for he died at the age of 39.

Socrates, Jr. states in the Journal interview: “Mother was a Scotchwoman and was one of the hardest workers I ever saw. She took a man’s place on the farm and in addition did the washing for the girl’s school (in Oswego).” Young Socrates went to work when he was 13. In 1869, Frances Tryon turned the land over to Socrates, Jr., Sallie, and Sallie’s husband, A. A. Cleveland. In 1874, they sold the large tract to the Oregon Iron Co. for $7,000. Socrates took up salmon fishing, logging and farming in the lower Columbia River area. It would seem that the parents who gave Socrates such a distinguished name in 1814 in Vermont must have had great aspirations for him. No one could have foretold that events 156 years later would bring distinction to the name in the form of a beautiful state park.