Stephen Tyng Mather -- Big Bend National Park TX
N 29° 16.217 W 103° 18.066
13R E 665053 N 3239127
The handsome bronze memorial plaque in honor of Stephen Tyng Mather at the start of the Window Loop Trail near the Chisos Basin Visitor Center
Waymark Code: WMTZKA
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/28/2017
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We have seen a plaque like this before: At the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in AZ: (
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Stephen Tyng Mather who was a millionaire industrialist who, after campaigning for the creation of one Federal agency to oversee national parks, became the first director of the National Park Service.
From the National Park Service website: (
visit link)
"A wealthy, gregarious businessman, Stephen T. Mather came to Washington from Chicago in January 1915 as special assistant to Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane for national park concerns. His vigorous efforts to build public and political support for the parks helped persuade Congress to create the National Park Service in 1916. Appointed the first NPS director in May 1917, he continued to promote park access, development, and use and contributed generously to the parks from his personal fortune. During his tenure the service's domain expanded eastward with the addition of Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, and Mammoth Cave national parks. Periodically disabled by manic-depression, Mather left office in January 1929 after suffering a stroke and died a year later."