K.Conway Designs

Claire Marie Hodges, first female National Park ranger, 1918.

Claire Marie Hodges (1890-1970) became the first paid female park ranger in the National Park Service when she was hired to work as a seasonal naturalist at Yosemite National Park in 1918. She was hired due to male labor shortages caused by the First World War.

Hodges, a teacher at the local Yosemite Valley School, had lived in the Yosemite area since 1916, and regularly explored the area on horseback. When she applied for the job, she said she knew the area so well that she already had two years of pre-employment training.

When she approached Park Superintendent Washington B. Lewis for the job, she said, “Probably you’ll laugh at me, but I want to be a ranger.” Lewis didn’t laugh. According to Adventure-Journal.com, he said, “I beat you to it, young lady. It’s been on my mind for some time to put a woman on one of these patrols.”

Claire was issued a regulation Park Service hat and a badge, and wearing a split skirt, she patrolled the park on horseback, talking to visitors, and taking the park gate receipts to the headquarters. She had the same responsibilities as the male rangers at Yosemite. The other rangers told her she needed a gun for protection against animals and attackers, but she chose not to carry one.

Claire Hodges was a trailblazer, but she, and the superintendent who hired her, were way ahead of their time. It was not until the 1970s that female park rangers were hired on a regular basis, wearing the same uniforms and performing the same jobs as men.

Photo courtesy Yosemite National Park.

Denise Hight