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 manageme ...

, conservationist, and park service administrator. He served as the director of the National Park Service (NPS) between 1951 and 1964. Wirth was born in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, where his father Theodore was park superintendent. Seven years later, Theodore moved to Minneapolis, 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). 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 programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

he supervised the service's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program in the state parks. His administrative ability made him a successor to Director

Arthur E. Demaray Arthur Edward Demaray (February 16, 1887 – August 19, 1958) was an American administrator and, briefly, Director of the National Park Service. A Washington, D.C., native, Demaray entered the government as a messenger at the age of 16, and work ...

, 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'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 Ca ...

to cross Hatteras Inlet between Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands on the outer banks of North Carolina.

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

Legacy

Further reading

References