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Credit: The Bretzman Collection, Indiana Historical SocietyView Source
(Sept. 5, 1869-Apr. 15, 1944). Born into an affluent family in St. Johann, the Saarland, Germany, Richard Lieber attended the Royal Lyceum in Duesseldorf. Because of illness, however, he received much of his education from private tutors.
After studying the mercantile trade in England in 1890, he visited his uncles Herman and Peter Lieber, who had immigrated to Indianapolis after the 1848 political uprisings in Germany and become successful businessmen. Richard worked as a salesman and accounts collector at Franke & Schindler Hardware Store (located at 25 South Meridian), became a partner in the Western Chemical Company (1892), and served as an art critic for the (1890s). In August 1893, he married Emma Rappaport, daughter of well-known German-American lawyer and newspaper editor .
Lieber became involved in the business and civic communities of Indianapolis. Bankrolled by cousin Albert Lieber, he began a soft drink and charged water business (the Richard Lieber Company). Mayor appointed him chairman of the city’s public utilities in the 1910s. Lieber founded the Merchants and Manufacturers Insurance Bureau of Indianapolis, serving as its president (1912-1939) while working to improve the city’s fire insurance and protection. He also was vice chair of a local relief committee following the flood of 1913.
An avid conservationist, Lieber was a delegate to a White House conference (1908) to discuss the nation’s natural resources and attended the Fourth National Conference on Conservation held in Indianapolis (1912). He advocated the creation of state parks, and in March 1916, became chairman of the State Parks Committee, established as part of the Indiana Historical Commission’s state centennial celebration.
Lieber’s lengthy report outlined plans for acquiring and preserving land throughout Indiana and became the basis for the Department of Conservation (now Department of Natural Resources) and the state park system. McCormick’s Creek and Turkey Run were the first state parks created during the centennial year. In March 1917, Governor James Goodrich appointed him secretary of the state’s forestry board.
Following the United States’ entrance into , Goodrich named Lieber his military secretary at the rank of colonel to serve as a liaison between the State of Indiana and the U.S. War Department. The appointment was remarkable considering Lieber’s prominent role in the German American community and the rampant anti-German hysteria that gripped the nation, including Indiana.
After the Indiana General Assembly passed a conservation bill in 1919, Lieber became the first director of the Department of Conservation, a position he held until resigning in 1933. During his tenure, the department created other parks and took responsibility for several state memorials and historic sites. Lieber also served as chairman of the Board of the National Conference on State Parks (1939-1944) and as an advisor for the National Park Service for many years. His ashes are buried at Turkey Run State Park, and the Richard Lieber State Recreation Area near Cloverdale is named in his honor.
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