Alvin J. Wirtz

Alvin Jacob Wirtz (May 22, 1888 – October 27, 1951) was a lawyer, politician, and undersecretary to the Department of the Interior, and was born in Columbus, Texas to Lewis Milton and Dora (Dent) Wirtz. He attended Columbus, Texas public schools and graduated from the University of Texas in 1910 with an LL.B. He married Kitty Mae Stamps of Seguin in 1913.[1] In 1917 Wirtz and his family moved to Seguin, Texas where he practiced law until 1934. Wirtz served as the Guadalupe County State Senator from 1922 to 1930. He served as the President Pro Tempore of the Texas Senate from 1925 to 1927.[2] During his time in Seguin, Wirtz became involved in a group of citizens interested in developing the Guadalupe River as a source of Hydroelectric power. Wirtz provided legal assistance to the Insull holding company Emery, Peck, and Rockwood as they built a chain of privately owned dams and hydroelectric projects on the Guadalupe River. In 1932 Wirtz was assisting the Emery, Peck, and Rockwood in a similar project on the Colorado River when the Insull empire collapsed.[3] As a result, Wirtz was made receiver of the uncompleted Hamilton Dam. To complete the dam, Wirtz promoted the creation of the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). He wrote the state legislation that created the Authority, pushed for federal funding for the Authority's dams through the federal Public Works Administration along with James P. Buchanan and Lyndon B Johnson. As the "father of the LCRA,"[4] Wirtz helped create a program to fund an uncompleted dam on the Colorado River which would eventually become the Mansfield Dam.