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Conrad Louis Wirth (December 1, 1899 – July 25, 1993) was an American
landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...
, conservationist, and park service administrator. He was the longest-serving director of the National Park Service (NPS), serving from 1951 to 1964.


Biography

Wirth was born in
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
, where his father Theodore was park superintendent. Seven years later, Theodore moved to
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, Minnesota, where he became superintendent of the Minneapolis Park System. Conrad Wirth grew up in the Theodore Wirth House, the home built by the Park System for his father, surrounded by city park. Conrad earned a Bachelor of Science degree in landscape gardening from Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the
University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...
). He first came to the Washington, D.C., area to work for the National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and he joined the NPS in 1931. With the coming of the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
he supervised the service's
Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...
(CCC) program in the state parks. His administrative ability made him a successor to Director Arthur E. Demaray, whom he served as associate director before advancing to the top job in December 1951. Wirth's crowning achievement was Mission 66, a 10-year, billion-dollar program to upgrade park facilities and services by the 50th anniversary of the NPS in 1966. Wirth submitted his resignation to President John F. Kennedy in the fall of 1963 and left the directorship in early 1964, after recommending George B. Hartzog Jr. as his successor. He went on to supervise the Interior Department's CCC program. A member of the
National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...
's Board of Trustees, he was also active in conservation and Park Service alumni affairs. He died in his sleep in 1993.


Legacy

The M/V ''Conrad Wirth'', a 25-car ferry was named for him. The 112-ft. vessel was built in 1970 for the
North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division The North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division is a branch of NCDOT that is responsible for the operation of over two dozen ferry services that transport passengers and vehicles to several islands along the Outer Banks of North Car ...
to cross Hatteras Inlet between Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands on the outer banks of North Carolina.


Further reading

*Wirth, Conrad L. ''Parks, Politics, and the People''. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press The University of Oklahoma Press (OU Press) is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. Founded in 1929 by the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma, William Bennett Bizzell, it was the first university press to be established ...
, 1980.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wirth, Conrad L. 1899 births 1993 deaths Civilian Conservation Corps people Directors of the National Park Service Mission 66 Artists from Hartford, Connecticut American people of Swiss descent