Born in Kingstree, S.C., to George and Arnette Norris, Dr. Clarence L. Norris came to Gaffney in 1914 and was one of the first Black physicians to serve the community. He served as president of the Piedmont Section of the Palmetto Medical Association, chairman of the Negro Red Cross, and president of the Cherokee County Burial Aide Society, and he also organized the Friendly Aide Society. He made a significant contribution to Gaffney's Black community by purchasing 65 acres of land, part of it at the corner of East Meadow and Petty Streets. The night before his death, a delegation of colored citizens led by Dr. C.L. Norris and Dr. George W. Glymph appeared before City Council to request that a colored policeman be employed to patrol the colored section of the city, and the request was taken under advisement. On the morning of his death, after inspecting construction of the Meadow Street property, he returned home and died at age 58. The Glymph Memorial Garden honors the successes and struggles of Blacks in Gaffney, with concrete seats extending into the sidewalks as symbols of the barriers they faced. On May 6, 1954, Gaffney's City Council elected two negro part-time police officers, Eugene Petty and Pon Freeman Bridges, the first in the municipality's history, to serve on a 90-day trial basis in the colored section of the city on Fridays and Saturdays at 75 cents an hour.