Cecil John Doty (1907–1990) was an American architect, notable for planning a consistent architectural framework for the U.S.
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...
's ambitious
Mission 66
Mission 66 was a United States National Park Service ten-year program that was intended to dramatically expand Park Service visitor services by 1966, in time for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Park Service.
When the National P ...
program in the 1950s and 1960s. Doty spent his childhood in
May, Oklahoma, then attended Oklahoma A&M (now
Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
), and received a degree in architectural engineering in 1928. During the
Great Depression that immediately followed Doty's graduation, Doty found intermittent work, but was unable to establish a business in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
. In order to make a living, Doty signed up with the
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government 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 a major part of ...
, first as a file clerk, then as an architect in the state parks program.
Doty was hired by Park Service design director
Herbert Maier to complete plans for a museum building at
Glacier National Park, and absorbed Maier's style by studying the design guidelines issued by Maier, which contained prototype designs executed by Maier and Park Service staff for national and state parks. By January 1935, Doty was promoted to associate engineer and given responsibility, together with landscape architect Harry Cornell, for the state parks of Kansas and Oklahoma. The next year he became regional architect, and in 1937 moved to
Santa Fe, New Mexico to work with Maier at the new regional office, where he took up work on national park structures. Doty designed his new workplace, the
Santa Fe Regional Office, while still in Oklahoma, completing the design after moving to Santa Fe.
[
Doty moved to the San Francisco Office in 1940, where he took on work for the new White Sands National Monument. During World War II Doty worked on major war effort projects like the ]