Mission 66

Visitors in the 60s visiting the newly constructed Rincon Mountain Visitor Center.

NPS

 

Mission 66 at Saguaro

The Rincon Mountain Visitor Center and surrounding administrative area were constructed in the 1950s as part of a larger nationwide campaign called Mission 66 to modernize National Park Service infrastructure in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Service.

 

Aerial view of the old Visitor Center from 1953.

NPS

Pre-Mission 66

The first of three periods of the Mission 66 era represent immediate post-World War II park development from 1945 to 1955 and the park system’s experimentation with the Modern Movement style, or “Park Service Modern” Style. The National Park Service architects began the shift to the Modern Movement style and its use of cost-efficient materials and systems. These projects established a precedent for the evolution in planning and design concepts, now referred to by the National Park Service as the pre-Mission 66 phase of the Mission 66 era that became integral parts of the subsequent Mission 66 program.

 

A group of older gentlemen sit around the new Visitor Center.

NPS

Mission 66

NPS Director Conrad L. Wirth first instituted the idea of modernizing the parks through a massive, multi-year redevelopment program after the centralization of NPS planning into the Eastern and Western Offices of Planning and Design in Philadelphia and San Francisco in 1954. By 1956 the concept had been passed into law and funded by Congress, and the 10-year Mission 66 program was launched.

The Mission 66 program resulted in a distinctive new type of NPS architecture that reflected new concepts for Park Service designs such as the use of inexpensive materials and labor-saving techniques. Later dubbed, “Park Service Modern,” this style brought the design ethic of the “modern” architecture movement to the national parks.

 

Aerial view of the Rincon Mountain district buildings post Parkscape USA.

NPS

Parkscape USA

The Mission 66 program did not conclude with the celebration of the National Park Service’s 50th anniversary in 1966 as intended. At the end of the Mission 66 program, a long list of projects remained incomplete, and new parks were planned, designed, and constructed. As a result, “Parkscape USA” (1967-1973) became the third and final phase of Mission 66.

 

Before and After

Left image
Pre-Mission 66 Visitor Center and surrounding area.
Credit: NPS

Right image
Post-Mission 66 Vision Center and surrounding area.
Credit: NPS

Aerial views of the main set of buidlings before and after Mission 66.

 

Related information

Mission 66 Background & History