How to Pronounce Conrad L. Wirth
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Dec 01, 1899 Hartford, Connecticut, United States Died on 25 Jul 1993 (aged 93)
landscape architect, conservationist and park service administrator
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Conrad L. Wirth, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Family, Facts, Age, Net Worth, Biography and More in FamedBorn.com
About Conrad L. Wirth
- Conrad Louis Wirth (December 1, 1899 – July 25, 1993) was an American landscape architect, 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, 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 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, 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 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.
