Enos Mills
b. 1870 - d. 1922
Role
Father of Rocky Mountain National Park
Dates of Involvement
1906-1922
Context
Enos Mills is the Father of Rocky Mountain National Park to many in park employment and for visitors as well. Due to his involvement in the founding and beginning stages of the park, Mills became a prominent figure that continues to permeate into park culture. Enos Mills was a key player, fighting to establish RMNP as a national park, and is still viewed as one of the main people who made Rocky Mountain National Park possible (National Park Service, 2016). Mills is featured in one of the opening day images of RMNP and became a legend for people who wanted to preserve and maintain public lands for future generations to enjoy.
During Mission 66 Rocky Mountain National Park honored the legacy of Enos Mills by naming the amphitheater after him. Congressman Aspinall vied to have the amphitheater named after Mills (ROMO Archives, 1967). Enos Mills passed away in 1922, but Superintendent's like Novak remembered what Mills did (Pixel Grade Team, 2014). Naming the auditorium after Mills in the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center maintained his ideas and his legacy which still remains in the Mission 66 building. Several changes altered the visitor center over time, but Enos Mills’ legacy still stands as the Father of Rocky Mountain National Park, and as a contributor to the Mission 66 ideas.
Career
Enos Mills had several jobs throughout his career that focused on activism. He met John Muir in 1889, which spurred his desire to dedicate his life to conservation activism, lecturing and writing. 1902-1906 he worked as the Colorado snow recorder, 1907-1909 he served as the government lecturer of forestry. He also fought to preserve the area around longs peak as well as RMNP. After RMNP opened in 1915, Mills continued to write and lecture until 1922 when he died at age 52 (Pixel Grade Team, 2014).
