As the Sierra Club continues its work against a border wall in Big Bend National Park (BBNP) and the Big Bend Region, and since it’s time to celebrate and remember Earth Day (year-round would be appropriate), it’s important to remember history and our victories.
While no one person was responsible for the acquisition of BBNP there is a person who’s known as the “Father of Big Bend National Park” who never stopped believing and pushing to have this special place protected for Texans and citizens of the United States.
That person is Everett Ewing (E.E.) Townsend. Perhaps his effort to protect BBNP is the best kept secret in Texas conservation history.
Townsend was born in Colorado County, Texas, October 20, 1871. He was involved with cattle ranching, first in Wharton and then in Eagle Pass. Because of his father’s bad health, at the age of 13, he went to work to support his family. In 1891, he joined Company E, Frontier Battalion, of the Texas Rangers.
Although he lied about his age to get hired, he was a serious person and in 1893 became Deputy U.S. Marshal. In 1894 Townsend came to the Big Bend Country as a horse-mounted inspector for U.S. Customs in Presidio County. This job introduced Townsend to the joys and beauty of Big Bend.
This was obvious in August 1894, when he came to the Chisos Mountains. He loved the view from the South Rim which made him, “see God as he had never seen Him before and so overpoweringly impressed him that he made note of its awesomeness …”. After this experience Townsend decided that the region should be preserved in some way.
From 1900 through 1918 Townsend managed a ranch and then was elected as sheriff of Brewster County. In 1932, he was elected as a Texas State Representative. In 1933, a bill that Townsend co-authored, passed which established the Texas Canyons State Park (after Santa Elena, Boquillas, and Mariscal Canyons) which was then renamed Big Bend State Park.
In 1935, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that authorized the National Park Service to begin acquisition of park acreage “only by public and private donations”.
He then helped establish the Civilian Conservation Corps camp in the Chisos Mountains to develop this new park. As the new state park was being developed, Townsend promoted that it should be a national and international park.
The Texas Legislature provided $1.5 million to acquire land for BBNP in 1942. The land deeds were given to the Department of the Interior in 1943 after Governor Coke R. Stevenson signed a deed transferring more than 750,000 acres to the National Park Service.
On June 12, 1944, BBNP was established and Townsend was appointed U.S. commissioner for the park. He died on November 19, 1948. In 1954, Townsend was made a “posthumous honorary park ranger”. The second highest point in the Chisos Mountains is named “Townsend Point” after him.
BBNP was officially dedicated on November 21, 1955. The last 8,561 acres was bought by the U.S. Congress in 1972.
In 1976, BBNP was designated by the United Nations as a “Man and Biosphere Reserve” representing the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. In 1978, the Rio Grande Lower Canyons Wild and Scenic River (196-mile-long corridor), from Mariscal Canyon to the Terrell/Val Verde County line, was designated for administration to BBNP.
Every park needs a person to stand and speak up for it. E.E. Townsend was that person for BBNP. Thank you E.E.! Each time you think of or visit BBNP, give thanks for his foresight and advocacy.
This article was made possible by the following sources of information:
1. “Everett Townsend: The Father of Big Bend National Park”, National Park Service, website, August 3, 2020.
2. “E.E. Townsend: Big Bend Snapshot History”, The Historical Marker Database, April 19, 2026.