Will Ojibway “Willo” Doolittle (1878-1965) received the bronze Pugsley Medal in 1935 for creating and developing the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s park system and for his leadership in the American Institute of Park Executives.  He was born in Painesville, Ohio.  His father was a building contractor and cabinet maker who was an avid hunter and who loved the out-of-doors.  His mother was one-sixteenth Ojibway Indian which was the source of his unusual middle name and gave him much pride.  She was a vigorous and expert gardener, both with flowers and vegetables and contributed to his interest in nature through these activities.  As an adolescent, Doolittle recalled he spent much time in the outdoors, “in my quest for knowledge of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, trees, shrubs, wildflowers and all that pertained to the outdoor life.” 

He aspired to study law, but the death of his father when he was 14 made it necessary that he go to work as soon as he graduated from Painesville High School.  During his high school days, he had worked during his vacations and after school hours at the local daily newspaper, and after finishing high school he took a job there as circulation manager.  Two years later, through a peculiar train of circumstances, he was named editor of the paper and he held this position for the next ten years.  He was the youngest editor in Ohio and the paper, the Painesville Evening Telegraph was the oldest paper in the state, having been established in 1822.   

During this period Doolittle became involved in local politics.  He later described this experience:  

I had become enmeshed in local politics and in 1908, as a reward for my efforts, the victorious city officials offered me a variety of positions to fill simultaneously.  I was made city clerk, clerk of the board, superintendent of streets and what was more to my liking, superintendent of parks and city “forester.” I was not entirely unprepared for this work as I had spent much time in private study of forestry and landscaping and had been tutored in the fundamentals of engineering and landscape development by a former professor at Ohio State University.  I liked my first park job in Painesville, but I held it only three years when there was a reversal at the city election and the rascals turned us out. 

For a brief period, Doolittle went back to newspaper work as editor of the Crestline Advocate, but he no longer felt satisfied working behind a desk.  He had an opportunity to go to northern Michigan to handle inventory work for the Munising Paper Company and spent a year getting some valuable forestry and landscape experience, both in the woods and in the mills.  This was followed by an attractive offer to join the faculty of an incorporated forestry school that had its headquarters in Munising.  He taught silviculture, dendrology and economic ornithology there in 1913-14. While in Michigan, Doolittle served as a member of the Congressional Committee for the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party and “stumped” the entire northern peninsula in the interests of Theodore Roosevelt’s 1912 candidacy. 

Late in 1914, Minot, North Dakota, decided to create a park system and Doolittle accepted an invitation to become its first superintendent.  He started in April 1915 and invested ten years in this position developing the park system. 

In 1926 he became the general superintendent of parks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and remained in that position for eleven years until 1937.  The board there committed to a big construction program and during his tenure, the 2,820 acre Mohawk Park was developed with the aid of two CCC camps.  Many of the old parks were reconstructed; new parks and playgrounds were built.  The large swimming pools and bathhouse at Newblock Park were created, the extensive rose gardens and rock gardens at Woodward Park came into existence, many play facilities were installed and a large number of children’s bathing pools were constructed. 

Dolittle introduced the concept of a zoo to Tulsa.  As a young man he was greatly inspired by Dr. William T. Hornaday, the first director of the National Zoo in Washington D.C.  In 1927, Dolittle reported results of a survey of the needs of Tulsa’s parks, playgrounds and boulevards to the Tulsa Park Board.  The board unanimously adopted his recommendations to invest $500,000 on developing the 25 projects listed in the report, one of which was to spend $25,000 to initiate a zoological garden.  Dolittle told the board: 

We have already begun plans for the development of 250 acres of Mohawk Park, for the creation of a prominent and adequate zoological garden and game preserve…A properly planned and maintained collection of living animals provides an educational and pleasure-giving feature for the public that is not only  a good investment because it draws visitors to Tulsa from all over the state, but really it is an aid in preserving many species of native mammals, birds and reptiles that are approaching extinction and if it were not for the zoo would be seen by a very limited number of people. 

Dolittle viewed the $25,000 as seed money.  He encouraged the creation of a zoological society and believed it would be the vehicle through which additional private funding could be secured.  The society was created by the Tulsa Junior Chamber of Commerce and, as Dolittle anticipated, successfully engaged in fundraising for the zoo. 

Doolittle had an abiding passion for nature.  One of his peers observed, “Natural history is deep-seated in Will—so deep that only in Nature does he find the significance of life and the existence of the spirit.”  His career was characterized by an intense enthusiasm, constant teaching and advocacy for the conservation of wild life. This was exemplified in much of his writing of which the following is an example:  

The wise park man will know and act upon the true premise that you can create good citizenship only by keeping man in close touch with the earth and that the children of man must learn from the earth and lessons of actual life, which involves all our relationships and moral responsibilities.  Valuable as may be the supervised programs and play and competitive games, music, art, handicraft, and dancing, they do not furnish that direct guidance back to the earth itself.  Both children and adults are hungering for such knowledge. 

At the same time that he was engaged in these demanding full-time professional leadership positions, Doolittle was also emerging as the central leadership figure in the American Institute of Park Executives (AIPE).  He first became a member in 1916 while he was at Minot and published his first article in Parks and Recreation in January 1918 which earned a commendation from the editor that Doolittle “shows the right spirit by submitting a fine article for this month’s issue and will be heard from in later issues.” He was appointed editor of Parks and Recreation, the organization’s monthly magazine, in January 1921.  Its status was precarious with the previous editor noting AIPE had to “do some hard thinking as to whether the magazine shall be continued.” He remained editor until May 1953, a total of 32 years and 5 months.  When he retired, responsibility for the magazine was transferred to a publishing firm, but after two years AIPE was dissatisfied with the results and regained control of it.  They prevailed upon Doolittle to return for a transitional period to re-establish the magazine’s systems and credibility, and he did this for 18 months between November 1956 and April 1958. 

In addition to editing the magazine, Doolittle was secretary-treasurer from 1922-25 and was appointed as AIPE’s first executive-secretary in 1925, and served in that position until 1928.  When he accepted the position of general superintendent at Tulsa, it was conditional upon him being able to retain his AIPE roles.  In 1936 he again became executive-secretary and retired from Tulsa in 1937 in order to devote full-time to the executive-secretary position.  In 1942 he moved to Rockford, Illinois, where the magazine’s publisher was located, to enhance the efficiency of the organization’s administration and remained there until 1952.  In addition to editing Parks and Recreation during his time at Rockford, he also edited Zoological Parks and Aquariums, An Annual Assemblage of Information and Facts, and published American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums.   

The AIPE struggled to raise sufficient funds to pay for his services and when their resources were too meager to sustain a modest payment to him as executive-secretary, Doolittle was the first to suggest payment should be reduced or abated until times got better.   

Doolittle’s contributions were central to the visibility and viability of AIPE for over 45 years.  His commitment and dedication to that organization were remarkable.  Charles Doell (Pugsley Medal 1957), a long time leader in AIPE stated, “With all due respect to the many great men that have served our Institute, none has given it more of his personal self than Will O.” Similarly, Theodore Wirth (Pugsley Medal 1930) noted, “He has been an active guiding head and spirit of the AIPE practically since he joined the organization.”

Sources:

Will Ojibway Doolittle:  A leader in service to the Parks and Recreation Profession, and the American Institute of Park Executives. Parks and Recreation August, 1965, pg 474-475. 

Will O. Doolittle (1968) Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.  Presentation at 50^th Annual Conference of AIPE, Boston, Massachusetts, October 3-6. 

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