History of the National Park Service
-For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People-
Rich and I have spent the last two and a half years traveling around the country visiting National Parks. A lot of people desire to visit the National Parks. It has raised awareness and curiosity both in us about how it began and what the National Park Service does.
Yellowstone National Park was the first National Park established in 1872 when Congress designated certain areas of Montana and Wyoming as “a public park for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” This started a worldwide movement of designating areas as National Parks.
We stopped at Yellowstone National Park in June 2022 but were unable to enter due to the drastic floods they had just experienced. It didn’t matter that the park itself was closed. We spent two days just seeing the area surrounding the park, and it was beautiful.
At first, National Parks in America were administered and protected by the Secretary and the Department of the Interior, whereas National Monuments, Battlefields, and Recreation Areas were administered and protected by the War Department and the Forest Service under the Department of Agriculture.
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson created the National Park Service. It was a new federal bureau division under the Department of the Interior. Its main job was to be responsible for, and to maintain, promote, and regulate all Federal areas previously designated and to be designated in the future as National Parks, Monuments, Battlefields, and Recreation Areas.
The first National Park I visited as a child was when my parents took me to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. I was thirteen years old and remember it like it was yesterday. I have been there several times since.
Located near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, it began as a National Memorial and was established in 1935 to commemorate the Louisiana Purchase and westward movement of American explorers and pioneers. It was redesignated as a National Park in 2018.
The next National Park I remember visiting was the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Rich and I were married and had two children, I was pregnant with the third.
This was a great week spent in a tent beside a trickling stream of water. We saw skunks, deer, and even a black bear with cubs in a tree. Rich and I want to go back sometime soon to see it again without little children.
Today the National Park Service of the United States manages over 400 territories in the 50 United States, plus areas in the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Saipan, and the Virgin Islands.
My bucket list consists of visiting all of them. My writing bucket list would be to write about all of them.
I hope you enjoyed this short informative article about the National Park Service of the United States.
Quick History of the National Park Service (U.S. National Park Service)
On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service, a new federal bureau in…
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We haven't seen many of the National Parks, but we did get to experience Yellowstone. I had a broken ankle at the time and had to use a knee scooter. I was thrilled by how much was accessible to someone with walking issues. It is a must-see in my book. I hope you can go back and enjoy it. 😊
Thoroughly enjoyable! Thank you.