Pioneer Information
Born in Traverse City, Michigan, Wells attended Denison University from 1928 to 1929 and earned a B.F.A. from Ohio State University in 1933. That year he went to work for the National Park Service. Wells became a landscape architect for Louisiana’s Office of State Parks at Fontainebleau State Park in 1937. In 1941 he became the assistant director, a position he held until 1961. While working for the Office of State Parks, Wells designed the master plan for Fontainebleau State Park, in which he emphasized recreational activities. While the park as a whole reflects his plan, some components, such as a lodge and a boating lagoon, were never constructed. Wells also prepared master plans for Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site in St. Martinville and Lake Bistineau State Parks in Doyline. He coordinated the restoration of the Oakley Plantation House, and assisted in the development of Audubon State Historic Site in St. Francisville. From 1961 until his death he worked as a supervisory landscape architect at the now defunct federal agency known as the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation.
Wells was a member of the National Conference on State Parks, serving as its director from 1948 to 1967 and president from 1958 to 1960. He was also president and a charter member of the Association of Southeastern State Park Directors. Wells became a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1960. He died at the age of 57 and was buried at Roselawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge.
