Harold
W. LathropHarold
W. LathropHarold W. Lathrop (1901-1961) received the State/Regional Level Pugsley Medal “for sustained and effective leadership in the field of parks and recreation, especially for his outstanding accomplishments in the planning and direction of state parks systems in Colorado and Minnesota, and for his widespread counsel and guidance through the National Conference on State Parks and the National Recreation Association.” Lanthrop was born in Lancaster, Wisconsin, but grew up in Minneapolis. In his youth, Lathrop wanted to be a civil engineer, and as he grew up he watched the building of the fine city park system in that city. When World War 1 broke out he joined the U.S. Navy, even though he had not yet finished school. After military service he attended the William Hood Dunwoody Industrial Institute and the University of Minnesota, both in Minneapolis, before going to work for the Minneapolis Park Board in 1924 as a senior engineering aid.
During his time at Minneapolis, Lathrop took many supplementary engineering courses and when he passed the examination to become a registered professional civic engineer, he became assistant engineer for the parks department. Lathrop was a protégé of Theodore Wirth. He recalled, “From 1927 to 1934 I was planning parks and playgrounds for Minneapolis under the tutorship of Theodore Wirth. This was excellent training and I wouldn’t exchange it for a doctorate from any college.”
In May 1934 he was drafted from that job by the governor to serve as park consultant for State Emergency Relief Administration projects. About two months later he was appointed supervisor of ECW work in the state parks. He wrote the legislation to establish separate agencies to develop and administer state parks and was subsequently appointed the first director of state parks in July 1935. He remained in this capacity until 1946. Under his direction, the Minnesota State Parks system greatly expanded. Indeed this was the seminal period in the history of the system. In 1934 it consisted of 30 units, but by 1940 there were 47. Park visitation increased from 450,000 in 1935 to 1,350,000 in 1941, the last year before gasoline rationing cut into it. Most of the new parks were developed using federal New Deal funds which totaled over $7.54 million by 1940. These funds were provided with the understanding that the state would assume the burden of maintaining the parks afterwards. However, the legislature did not fulfill this promise, and Lathrop was required to operate ten of the new parks without the legislature providing in the budget for their maintenance.
Lathrop responded by trying to shame the legislature into larger appropriations by comparing the amount spent per acre in the Minnesota parks with the expenditures in other states; $2.27 in Minnesota compared to $2.63 in Michigan, $2.68 in Pennsylvania, $5.44 in Wisconsin, $6.90 in Indiana and $13.80 in Illinois. This resulted in larger budgets, but further expansion was thwarted by the onset of World War II. During the war visitation declined as a result of gasoline rationing.
In August, 1946, Lathrop stepped down as director of the division of State Parks after eleven years and one month in that post and nearly another year as de facto parks director before the division was created. Because he was the first to hold the office and because he held it for so many years, his influence on Minnesota’s park system was incalcuable. He had guided the system through the years of rapid expansion and through the trying war years.
As he was about to leave his post, Lathrop wrote his successor a long letter, describing the park system as it then existed and suggesting improvements he thought would be needed in the years to come. Besides providing a great deal of factual information useful to historians, the letter revealed the attention to detail that characterized Lathrop’s administration: he knew every park and knew it well.
In 1946, Lathrop resigned to become a field representative for the National Recreation Association, headquartered in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. His area consisted of the western states and their communities. Through the years of his working in parks inevitably there was a gradual broadening of his interests so they came to embrace the recreation field. He observed, “Through continuous study of park needs in Minneapolis, and of needs in state government, I developed a keener appreciation of how broad this thing is and of how many agencies fit into the picture. With his extensive background at the local and state levels, he believed he had much to offer in this consultative and advisory role. He felt equipped to view problems through the eyes of administrators and advise on how to sell recreation programs to citizens. He was described as “an informal, friendly soul, with a breezy western manner” and said “I’ve always enjoyed talking over people’s park and recreation problems.” He was particularly effective in stimulating recreation programs in parks and in fostering interagency cooperation.
In 1957, the Colorado legislative created the State Park and Recreation Board, and Lathrop was the obvious candidate for the board to approach to head the new organization. He held the position until his death in 1961. His first major initiative was to prepare a statewide plan for the system which was adopted by the board as a basis for acquisition and development. In 1959 Governor McNichols signed a 25 year lease with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make Cheery Creek Reservoir the first unit in the new state park system. In 1960, the Department made its first purchase of land, a 200-acre tract in Gilpin County, designated “the ranch” It became the nucleus of the 15,000-acre Golden Gate Canyon State Recreation Park. Subsequently other property was transferred to the state park system, including Eleven Mile State Recreation Area and Sweitzer Lake. In its first few years under Lanthrop’s leadership, the state park system acquired 8.069 acres of land, and established a framework and foundation which guided the future evolution of the department. The department also became responsible for boat registrations. Temporary “boat wardens” under the supervision of a full-time “chief warden” provided Colorado’s first boat safety program. The growth and diversification of law enforcement reflected the broadening recreational pursuits of Colorado’s population.
A year after his death, Lathrop was honored with the naming of Lathrop State Park in Colorado. He was especially active and influential in the National Conference on State Parks, serving as its president for four years from 1942-46 and subsequently as a life member on its board of directors. In addition, he was active in the American Institute of Parks Executives, the American Recreation Society, and the National Recreation Association.