by

Rob Kinney

    J. George Wyth was born in Cedar Falls, on December 17, 1869. He was forced to quit school in the seventh grade and became a grocery store delivery boy. Later, he and a partner established a shoe store. After the invention of the rotary pump by Jens Nielsen, Wyth teamed with Nielsen and two other partners to found the Viking Pump Company in 1911. Wyth became the first president of the company. In 1944, he retired from the Viking Pump Company as both president and general manger. [1] Wyth also worked hard to establish the Cedar Falls Park System and was elected as a charter member of the first Park Board in 1919. [2] He devoted huge amounts of time and energy to the establishment and development of the city's first two parks, Overman and College Hill. Interestingly enough, Wyth himself was not a man who spent much time outdoors. The work that he did to establish recreation areas was for others, not himself. [3] His unselfish nature led the Iowa State Conservation Commission to vote unanimously to change the name of the Josh Higgins Parkway to George Wyth Memorial Park in the summer of 1956. (Josh Higgins had been a fictitious character on a radio program.) [4] Today, his house is open to the public as part of the Cedar Falls Historical Society. Wyth died in Cedar Falls, on May 19, 1955.

Footnotes

1. Cedar Falls Historical Society Archives: Series III: Box 8: Folder 5: Gus Campbell, 
"Beginning of Viking Pump Company," Waterloo Courier, 1948. 

2. "George Wyth: The Man Who Gave us a Park and Much More" Waterloo Courier, 
24 August 1984, sec. CF: 1. 

3. "George Wyth:" Waterloo Courier, 24 August 1984, sec. CF:2. 

4. "George Wyth:" Waterloo Courier, 24 August 1984, sec. CF: 2. 

Bibliography

George Wyth House. Cedar Falls Historical Society. [Leaflet]. 

Historical Tour of Blackhawk County Iowa: Celebrating Iowa's Sesquicentennial 1846-1996. 

Cedar Falls Historical Society.CFHSA: Series III: Box 8: Folder 5: Gus Campbell, " of Viking Pump Company," Waterloo Courier, 1948. 

"George Wyth: The Man Who Gave us a Park and Much More." Waterloo Courier, 24 August 1984, sec. CF:1-2.