Today in HistoryâMarch 1: The First National Park Is Founded
On this day in 1872 the United States did something new: Pres. Ulysses S. Grant signed the act establishing Yellowstone National Park, widely considered the first national park in the world.
The act protected a place that people hadnât believed existed just decades earlier: Reports from early fur trappers describing boiling, colorful water erupting from the ground went largely ignored.
Then, after the Civil War, the government had to decide how to handle the American West. There were railroads to build, industries to run, and lands to exploit. Surveyors sent to what is now Yellowstone corroborated those early storiesâand backed it up with paintings and photographs that made their way east, to the public and Congress. Both were impressed.
President Grant had never been to Yellowstone, and he wasnât known as a conservationist. But he had traveled through nearby territories during his army service and understood the regionâs scale and value. When the bill reached his desk, he signed it. This meant that the land was not available for sale or settlement. It was âset apart as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.â
The country already had some protected landâYosemite in California was then a state park. But Yellowstone, spanning the territories of Montana and Wyoming, established federal protection on a larger scale.
Yellowstone remains the only place in the Lower 48 where every native wild animal present before European arrival still exists. Itâs also home to more than 1,000 native plant species and some of the most distinctive geothermal features on the planet.
Sure, youâve heard of Old Faithful. But what about Beehive, Impatient Miser, or Queenâs Laundry? These are also geothermal features at Yellowstone.
Unfortunately, creating the national park had some consequences, too. It forced the removal of Native American peoples who had lived on and used that land for thousands of years. (Apparently that still counted as âsettlingâ the land.)
Additionally, no one knew how to run a national park. Congress set aside exactly zero dollars for the endeavor. The first superintendent was expected to do the job for free, keeping poachers and vandals out while holding down a day job.
When that inevitably failed, the U.S. Army stepped in. But it was becoming clear that protecting a place like Yellowstone required something special and specific.
And thatâs how we got the National Park Service in 1916. Send in the park rangers.
- 27: Current Native American tribes with historic ties to Yellowstone
- 80+ million acres: Total area managed by the National Park Service
- 2.2 million acres: Size of Yellowstone
- 1869: The first U.S. postage stamps depicting scenes (instead of people) are issued
- 1936: Construction on the Hoover Dam is completed
- 1961: The Peace Corps is established by U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy
