Since 1872, the United States National Park System has expanded from one protected area, Yellowstone National Park, to include 431 natural, historical, recreational, and cultural places across the United States, its territories, and islands. These areas consist of 63 National Parks, as well as National Monuments, National Memorials, National Military Parks, National Historic Sites, National Parkways, National Recreation Areas, National Seashores, National Scenic Riverways, and National Scenic Trails.

Beginnings

The idea of creating national parks is often credited to the artist George Catlin. In 1832, he traveled through the northern Great Plains of the United States. He was worried about the loss of Native American cultures, wildlife, and natural areas as people from the East moved west. He wrote that the government should create a "nation's park" to protect animals, plants, and the beauty of nature.

Catlin’s idea did not have an immediate effect. In the East, writers and artists like James Fenimore Cooper, Henry David Thoreau, Thomas Cole, and Frederick Edwin Church began to show nature in a new way, focusing on its beauty rather than seeing it as something to be conquered. Over time, more people learned about the untouched natural areas of the West, and the idea of protecting these places became more popular. According to National Park Service records, Catlin’s proposal was seen as not useful at the time. Formal rules for protecting nature came much later, such as the protection of Yosemite in 1864 and the creation of Yellowstone as a national park in 1872.

In California, leaders wanted to protect Yosemite Valley. In 1864, Senator John Conness of California helped create a law to transfer the valley and nearby Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the state. President Abraham Lincoln signed this law on June 30, 1864. The state received the land with the condition that it would be used for public enjoyment and preserved forever.

The Yellowstone area was first studied in detail by the private Cook–Folsom–Peterson Expedition in 1869. Later, the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition in 1870 and the federally funded Hayden Geological Survey in 1871 explored the region. A story spread that during the Washburn expedition, people suggested protecting the area from private use. This story helped promote the idea of a national park, but historians later proved it was not true. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company supported the idea of a public park because they wanted to attract travelers to their route through Montana. In 1886, soldiers from the U.S. Army were sent to protect Yellowstone after the government asked for help.

Mackinac National Park was created on March 3, 1875, when President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law to set aside more than half of Mackinac Island in Lake Huron, Michigan, as a national park. Soldiers from Fort Mackinac were in charge of managing the park until 1895, when control was handed to the state.

In 1891, U.S. cavalry soldiers were stationed in Yosemite Park to help manage it. In 1906, the park was fully taken over by the federal government.

The soldiers who protected early national parks wore campaign hats, as seen in a 1905 photo of Buffalo Soldiers at Mariposa Grove. Many soldiers reshaped their hats into the Montana Peak style, likely because of their service in Cuba or the Philippines during the Spanish–American War.

These soldiers helped protect parks from poachers and illegal mining. Over time, the campaign hat became a symbol of authority used by rangers from the National Park Service and by state agencies like fish and game wardens and police. Today, some local park departments, such as New York City’s Urban Park Rangers, still wear campaign hats. The National Park Foundation used a stylized campaign hat as its emblem until 2013.

While the focus was on creating national parks, another movement aimed to protect ancient ruins, cliff dwellings, and early missions in the West and Southwest. Local ranchers tried to stop people from stealing artifacts, but many sites were damaged by looters. This effort began in Boston and spread to cities like Washington, New York, Denver, and Santa Fe in the 1880s and 1890s. In 1906, Rep. John Fletcher Lacey of Iowa and Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts passed the Antiquities Act.

The Antiquities Act allowed the president to declare historic or scientific sites on public land as National Monuments. It also made it illegal to dig or remove items from federal land without a permit. Between 1906 and 1933, three federal agencies—the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, and War—managed different groups of National Monuments.

President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act on June 8, 1906. Earlier, in 1889, Congress allowed the president to protect the area around the Casa Grande Ruin. In 1904, Dr. Edgar Lee Hewett studied Indian ruins in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. He recommended protecting many sites. Based on his report and other requests, Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson declared 20 National Monuments between 1906 and 1916.

On September 24, 1906, President Roosevelt declared Devils Tower in Wyoming the first National Monument. Devils Tower is a 600-foot rock formation that has been a landmark and religious site for many years. Later that year, three more monuments were created: El Morro in New Mexico, Montezuma Castle in Arizona, and Petrified Forest in Arizona. Three of these monuments later became the basis for national parks.

Mineral springs have been used for their health benefits for centuries. By the 1800s, places like Saratoga Springs in New York, Berkeley Springs in West Virginia, and White Sulphur Springs in West Virginia became popular resorts. In 1832, Hot Springs in Arkansas was set aside as a Federal reservation to protect its hot springs. In 1870, Congress made the area a reservation, and in 1921, it became a National Park. Hot Springs National Park is known for its health spas rather than its natural beauty.

In 1902, the federal government bought 32 mineral springs near Sulphur, Oklahoma, from the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes. The Sulphur Springs Reservation was managed by the Secretary of the Interior, who later added more land. In 1906, Congress created Platt National Park, which included these springs.

Establishment, 1916

Forty-four years after Yellowstone was created, President Woodrow Wilson established the National Park Service on August 25, 1916. The National Park Service Organic Act explains that the agency's purpose is to manage national parks, monuments, and reservations by protecting their natural beauty, historical landmarks, and wildlife. It also ensures that these areas remain preserved for future generations to enjoy.

For many years, J. Horace McFarland, President of the American Civic Association; Secretaries of the Interior Walter Fisher and Franklin K. Lane; Presidents William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson; Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.; Representatives William Kent and John E. Raker from California; Senator Reed Smoot from Utah; and Stephen T. Mather and Horace M. Albright had worked to create a separate agency to manage national parks and monuments.

Reorganization of 1933

On June 11, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6166. This order changed how federal parks were managed. It combined national parks and monuments, national military parks, eleven national cemeteries, national memorials, and National Capital Parks into one system called the National Park System. The National Park Service was given the job of managing all these areas.

This change had several important results. It made the National Park Service the only federal group responsible for managing public parks, monuments, and memorials owned by the government. The system grew to include new types of places, such as national memorials (like the Washington Monument and the Statue of Liberty), national military parks (such as Gettysburg and Antietam, along with their cemeteries), National Capital Parks, and a recreational area called the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The order also added 12 natural areas in nine western states and Alaska, and 57 historical areas in 17 mostly eastern states and the District of Columbia.

National Capital Parks is the oldest part of the National Park System. Its history began when the District of Columbia was created in 1790, making it older than Yellowstone National Park. The president appointed three people to plan a square area ten miles wide on the Potomac River for the U.S. government’s permanent home. The current National Capital Parks office is directly connected to the first office set up by the original commissioners in 1791.

President George Washington hired Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant to design the new capital city. L'Enfant planned the city to be grand and impressive. His design included wide streets, parks, and The Mall. He also imagined a Congress Garden, a President's Park with statues and fountains, an equestrian statue of Washington, and a zero milestone.

Rock Creek Park was approved on September 27, 1890, two days after Sequoia and three days before Yosemite. Congress used language from the Yellowstone Act in all three laws. Like Yellowstone, Rock Creek Park was set aside as a public park for people’s enjoyment. All trees, animals, and natural items were to stay in their natural state. Though not a "National Park," Rock Creek Park is a major urban park in the country.

The first memorial was approved by the Continental Congress on January 25, 1776, to honor General Richard Montgomery, who died in a battle in Quebec. Montgomery led troops sent to gain support in Canada, but the mission failed, and he died in the attack. The Montgomery Memorial is not part of the National Park System, but the chapel where it is located, St. Paul's Chapel, is a National Historic Landmark.

In August 1783, the Continental Congress decided to build an equestrian statue of General Washington where Congress would be located. The statue, made by Clark Mills, was placed on Pennsylvania Avenue and dedicated in 1859.

In 1832, when no suitable monument for Washington existed in the capital, George Watterston, the Librarian of Congress, and others formed the Washington Monument Society to build a monument using private funds. In 1848, Congress gave the society a site on the Mall, and the Washington Monument’s cornerstone was laid on July 4. Progress slowed during the Civil War. By 1876, the monument was only one-third complete. Congress later transferred the monument and site to the government for completion and maintenance as a National Memorial. The Washington Monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885.

In 1933, these National Memorials were added to the National Park System, and the National Park Service was given responsibility for them, except Perry's Victory Memorial, which was managed by a commission until 1936. Also, in 1933, the National Park Service took over the financial management of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission, and the memorial itself in 1938.

The National Military Park system began in 1781. Between 1890 and 1933, the War Department expanded it into a National Military Park System. In 1933, there were 20 areas, including 11 National Military Parks and 9 National Battlefield Sites. The system started on October 29, 1781, when the Continental Congress approved the first on-site battlefield monument in York, Virginia. The monument was a marble column with symbols of the alliance between the United States and France, and a description of the surrender. In 1823, Boston citizens formed the Bunker Hill Battle Monument Association to save part of the battlefield and build a monument. The cornerstone was laid on June 17, 1825. During the Revolutionary Centennial years (1876–1883), Congress gave money to match local funds for battle monuments. Monuments were built at Bennington Battlefield, Vermont; Saratoga, Newburgh, and Oriskany, New York; Cowpens, South Carolina; Monmouth, New Jersey; and Groton, Connecticut. Cowpens is now part of the National Park System, and Bunker Hill, Bennington, Oriskany, and Monmouth are National Historic Landmarks. In 1864, during the Civil War, Pennsylvania created the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association to honor the bravery at Gettysburg. This group was one of the first historic preservation organizations in the country. By 1890, it had bought land near Spangler's Spring, the Wheatfield, Little Round Top, the Peach Orchard, and General Meade’s headquarters.

With support from both the North and South, Congress decided to create the first four National Military Parks: Chickamauga & Chattanooga in 1890, Shiloh in 1894, Gettysburg in 1895, and Vicksburg in 1899. These areas were not chosen randomly but were part of a planned system to preserve major battlefields for study and as memorials to the armies of both sides.

In 1933, the National Military Park System was

Growth, 1933–1966

From 1933 to 1964, the National Park Service worked to include 71 different areas into the National Park System. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt started a program to protect natural resources, which was carried out mainly through the Civilian Conservation Corps. At the program’s peak in 1935, the Service operated 2,600 to 2,900 camps across the United States. Of these, 118 were in National Park areas and 482 were in State Parks. These camps employed about 120,000 workers and 6,000 trained supervisors.

By the middle of the 20th century, the Service faced challenges due to a large amount of overdue park maintenance and development projects. This time was marked by the start of Mission 66, the creation of a national "crisis in outdoor recreation," the formation of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission and the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, and growing concerns about protecting America’s disappearing wilderness.

Between 1933 and 1964, 102 new areas were added to the National Park System, increasing the total number of areas from 137 to 239. These additions were not evenly spread across categories.

Eleven new areas were classified as Natural Areas, increasing their total from 58 to 69, a 19% increase. Seventy-five new areas were Historical Areas, raising their total from 77 to 152, a 96% increase. Fifteen new areas were Recreation Areas, expanding that category from one to 16, a 1,500% increase.

During this time, the growth of Natural Areas slowed compared to earlier years and compared to other categories, though some natural lands were still added. In contrast, the number of Historical and Recreation Areas grew much faster. From 1933 to 1964, the National Park Service combined these 102 new areas with the 71 areas added during the 1933 reorganization to create a unified National Park System.

Jackson Hole was considered for inclusion in Yellowstone as early as 1892. From 1916 onward, the Service and the Department of the Interior worked to protect it. However, John D. Rockefeller Jr. played a key role in saving Jackson Hole. In 1926, he visited the area and saw commercial development, such as dance halls, hot dog stands, and billboards, blocking views of the Teton Range.

Rockefeller began buying land in Jackson Hole and later donated over 33,000 acres (130 km²) to the United States. However, some groups opposed the idea of creating a park. In 1943, President Roosevelt declared Jackson Hole a National Monument, combining the land donated by Rockefeller with land from Teton National Forest to create Grand Teton National Park.

President Roosevelt’s action led to criticism from some western lawmakers. A bill to remove the monument was introduced in Congress in 1944 but was vetoed by Roosevelt. He pointed out that past presidents had used the Antiquities Act to create many National Monuments. The monument was also challenged in court but was upheld. A compromise was reached in 1950, creating a new Grand Teton National Park with special rules about taxes and hunting. It also limited future park expansions in Wyoming without Congress’s approval.

Between 1933 and 1964, 75 Historical Areas were added to the National Park System, including nine National Historic Sites and one International Park in non-federal ownership. These areas represented nine themes, such as the history of Native Americans, European exploration, major American wars, and westward expansion.

Much of this progress was made possible by the Historic Sites Act of 1935, which followed the 1933 reorganization. President Roosevelt asked Major Gist Blair to help develop a plan to preserve historic sites and places across the country.

The Act stated that the United States should protect historic sites, buildings, and objects of national importance for public use. This policy became a key part of the Federal Government’s historic preservation efforts. The Act gave the Secretary of the Interior, through the National Park Service, the power to:

• Survey historic and archaeological sites to find those with special historical value.
• Buy land or objects to preserve them.
• Work with states, cities, and individuals to protect historic properties.

The Act also created an Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments.

Some of the most important historical additions to the system between 1933 and 1964 include Gateway Arch National Park, originally called the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. It was the first historic site created under the Historic Sites Act. This area, covering 37 square blocks in St. Louis, included the Old St. Louis Post Office and the Cathedral. The main feature is Eero Saarinen’s stainless steel Arch, a modern design that is rare in the United States.

In 1948, Congress approved another major project: Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. This area includes Independence Hall, Congress Hall, and other sites linked to American independence.

The second 50 years; 1966–2016

The 1960s helped people learn more about the natural and historical treasures of the United States. The Johnson Administration started a new idea that parks should be for everyone. Director Hartzog was the leader of the Gateway Arch National Park, which was then called the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis. He believed that the public should be involved in decisions about parks. During this time, more parks became available for people to visit than ever before.

In the 1960s, many legal problems arose about the purpose of the National Park Service. Courts helped explain the rules for the National Park Service by adding to the Organic Act of 1916 through the National Park Service General Authorities Act of 1970. More challenges in the 1970s led Congress to explain the mission of the National Park Service again. A 1979 change to the General Authorities Act, called the "Redwood amendment," also helped expand Redwood National Park.

The first national lakeshores were created in 1966 to protect special parts of the Great Lakes coast. These included Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in Northwest Indiana. In 1970, two more lakeshores were added: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan’s western shore and Apostle Islands National Lakeshore on Lake Superior’s shore in Wisconsin.

Heritage areas were created to highlight places that had an important role in the development of the United States. The Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail was established in 1983, covering parts of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. By 1996, 14 heritage areas existed. At first, most were in the eastern and northeastern parts of the country. Today, heritage areas can be found across the entire United States. All of Tennessee has been named the Tennessee Civil War Heritage Area.

During President Richard Nixon’s time in office, two gateway parks were created to provide open space for people in large cities. Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco and Gateway National Recreation Area in New York City were made to serve these cities rather than to protect specific scenic or cultural places.

On August 15, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a law to create the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. This area includes 15 park units covering more than 5,000 acres and includes 48 miles of the Chattahoochee River in the Atlanta area.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter created 12 national monuments in Alaska. This led to the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), which added 47 million acres to the National Park System and 54 acres to the National Wildlife Refuge System. The act also helped expand or create several parks and preserves, including Denali National Park, Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and others.

President Ronald Reagan added 18 new units to the National Park System during his time in the White House. President George H. W. Bush added 14 new units during his four years in office. President Bill Clinton added 19 new units and removed one during his eight years. President George W. Bush added 7 new units and removed the Oklahoma City National Memorial during his time in office. President Barack Obama added 26 new units during his eight years. President Donald Trump added 5 new units during his four years. President Joe Biden added 6 new units during his four years in office.

External sources

• Official Website of the National Park Service
• Rules for Adding Places to the National Park System
• The Book of the National Parks Written by Robert Sterling Yard
• How Areas Are Named in the National Park System
• History of the National Park System
• Understanding the Differences: Monuments, Memorials, and Parks