Bio of WIRTH, Theodore (b.1863), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical

Vol III, pg 699-700
THEODORE WIRTH
Theodore Wirth, who has contributed in notable measure to the beauty and
adornment of Minneapolis as superintendent of its park system through the past
eighteen years, was born in Winterthur, Canton Zurich, Switzerland, on the 30th
of November, 1863. He represents an old and respected family of his native
canton and can trace his ancestry back to the year 1446. He is a descendant of
Burgomaster Hans Wirth of Stanheim, who, together with his son Johannes, a
priest of the new Zwingli Protestant church, was beheaded by the Catholics in
1523 at Baden, Canton Aargau. Conrad Wirth, the grandfather of Theodore Wirth,
was a lifelong resident of the canton and followed the profession of veterinary
surgery. His son, Conrad Wirth, Jr., was born at Stamheim, in the same canton,
in 1827, and following the completion of his education at Kusnacht when twenty
years of age he turned his attention to teaching, which he continued most
successfully until his retirement in 1898. During his half-century of
professional work he taught in three places only and for thirty-six years was
connected with the schools of Winterthur, a city of fifty thousand inhabitants.
He was married in Flawyl, Canton St. Gall, to Miss Martha Wiget, a native of
that canton, and they became parents of four children, all of whom still
survive, namely: Elsie, who is a resident of Flawyl; Theodore, of this review;
Rudolph, who succeeded his father as teacher at Winterthur and married Miss
Elsie Merk, by whom he has two children, Martha and Margaritha; and Martha, the
widow of Godfried Schmid, who was chief engineer of the canton of Zurich and
resided in Zurich. Mr. and Mrs. Schmid became parents of three sons: Gustave,
Walter and Werner.
Theodore Wirth, who speaks English, French and German, obtained his education in
the schools of his native town, which were famous for their excellence. In 1878
he Completed the high school course by graduation and entered upon an
apprenticeship as a general gardener at Flawyl in one of the largest
horticultural establishments in Switzerland. On completing his term of indenture
he spent one winter in an elective course in engineering at the polytechnic
school at Winterthur and for one year was engaged in that line of work in
Switzerland. In 1883 he went to London, England, where he was employed as a
landscape gardener and general decorator for two years, while in 1885 he went to
Paris, there working for a similar period on private estates and in the well
known botanical garden Jardin des Plantes. He returned to Switzerland in 1887
and in the following year came to America, landing at New York city. His ability
and skill secured him work within three or four weeks as a gardener in Central
Park, where he remained until 1890, and later he entered the service of the New
York Park Commissioners and assisted in the construction of Morningside Park,
under the direction of the general foreman of construction, James Francis Huss,
a native of Switzerland. While there he rose to the position of assistant
foreman and for some time had charge of Morningside Park, but was finally
discharged with hundreds of others on account of a change in the administration.
Mr. Wirth then engaged in work on his own account and laid out private places
from 1892 until 1896, which period he spent chiefly on Long Island and in other
portions of New York state. In asso­ciation with Samuel Parsons, Jr., he did
some planting at the State Reservation at Niagara Falls. In 1896 he was
appointed superintendent of parks of the city of Hart­ford and under his
direction many improvements were made.
In 1905 Mr. Wirth received a call from the park commission of Minneapolis to
accept the superintendency of the city's park system as successor of William M.
Berry, who resigned on account of advanced age after twenty-one years of most
efficient service. Mr. Wirth took the proffered position and has filled the
office of superintendent since January, 1906. During this period the park system
has grown from an acreage of seventeen hundred and eighty to four thousand and
twenty; with several hundred acres now under process of acquisition. He designed
the enlarged park system as it has grown during his eighteen years of service
and has been the directing head of all that has been accomplished during that
period of growth. Unhampered by political or other interference, he has been
able to build up a very efficient, well organized working organization, to the
able work of which Mr. Wirth ascribes the success of his administration. At the
close of the year 1905 the park inventory showed a total value of land
purchases, improvements and donations of three million five hundred thousand
dollars. At the close of the last fiscal year the inventory showed a valuation
of over ten million dollars. Mr. Wirth, having entered the park service as a
well equipped and educated practical gardener, has always taken keen interest in
all horticultural matters and is as well recognized a leader among the gardener
fraternity as he is among the park executives of the country. He has been
president of the Society of American Florists and Ornamental Horticulturists,
the American Association of Park Superintendents and the Minnesota State
Florists Association. At the Minne­apolis convention of the American Institute
of Park Executives and the American Park Society, in 1922, he was again elected
president. It is Mr. Wirth's ambition to make the Minneapolis park system one of
the most complete in the country and to improve and develop it equally along
lines of natural beauty, art and utility. He is a strong advocate of outdoor
recreation for all the people alike and hopes not only to preserve for all time
to come the many natural advantages with which the city is blessed, but to make
them all accessible to the people and to provide a good-sized neighborhood park
and playground for every square mile of residential city territory. He believes
in the growth and future of the city and endeavors to keep abreast of that
growth with the city's park, playground and boulevard system. His profession is
his life and his great devotion thereto is the secret of his success.
In 1895 Mr. Wirth was united in marriage to Miss Leonie Alexandrine Mense, who
was born in America of French parentage. To them have been born three sons:
Theodore Rudolph was graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis
in 1921 and is at this time serving as ensign on the United States Steamship
Texas; Conrad Louis was graduated in June, 1923, from the Massachusetts
Agricultural College at Amherst as a member of the landscape gardening class;
Walter Leon, in June, 1923, completed a course in St. John's Military Academy at
Delafield, Wisconsin, of which institution his brothers are also graduates, and
intends to finish his college work at Amherst.
In politics Mr. Wirth maintains an independent attitude, supporting men and
measures rather than party, while his religious faith is indicated by his
membership in the Zwingli Protestant church. Fraternally he is a Scottish Rite
Mason and Mystic Shriner and in his life exemplifies the beneficent teachings
and purposes of the craft. His record is one of which he may well be proud and
Minneapolis numbers him among her most valued and highly esteemed citizens.