The Birth of an Idea: The Origins of U.S. National Park System
It is a somewhat curious fact that the United States’ most beautiful natural landscapes owe their existence to the Industrial Revolution. But indeed it was in the 19th century, amid rapid industrialization, urbanization and westward expansion, that calls for the preservation of the country’s natural wonders first arose.
As early as 1831, painter George Catlin, while traveling the Great Plains, imagined “some great protecting policy of government” that would enable “a nation’s park, containing man and beast, in all the wild and freshness of their nature's beauty.” While Catlin’s proposal was not seriously entertained for many years, it reflected a sentiment of early nature lovers that some natural landscape be protected from industrial and urban encroachment.
Following the Civil War, the completion of the transcontinental railroad opened the West to greater resource extraction and development. The rapid diminishment of natural resources such as timber and minerals, as well as animals such as the American bison, increased concerns about conservation of nature.
In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a historic bill into law, establishing Yellowstone National Park “as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people” — the first national park in the world. This marked the beginning of a new era in environmental conservation, and established a precedent for setting aside vast areas of land because of their natural beauty or unique characteristics.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several influential advocacy and preservation groups emerged, contributing significantly to the development of the National Park System. One of the most prominent was the Sierra Club, founded in 1892 by John Muir. Muir’s passion for the wilderness and tireless advocacy efforts played a crucial role in the creation of several iconic national parks, including Yosemite and Sequoia.
A 1903 camping expedition with Muir in Yosemite is often credited with inspiring President Theodore Roosevelt to become a champion of national parks. A dedicated conservationist, Roosevelt used his executive powers to establish five national parks, 18 national monuments, as well as more than 150 national forests.
Despite the progress made in preserving unique landscapes and historic sites, there was still a lack of cohesive management and oversight of the nation’s parks, which were at different times managed by the departments of War, Agriculture and the Interior. This changed in 1916 with the creation of the National Park Service. The service’s first superintendent, Stephen Mather, centralized management of the system and effectively advocated for expanding the service’s budget and staffing.
The Great Depression of the 1930s presented an opportunity for further expansion and development of the National Park System. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal initiatives included the Civilian Conservation Corps, which provided employment to thousands of young men while also enhancing the national parks.
The corps, along with the Works Progress Administration built roads, trails, visitor centers and lodges that are still in use today. FDR, following in his cousin Teddy’s footsteps, also approved the creation of seven new parks and increased funding for the agency.
In the post-World War II era, the National Park System faced new challenges. Widespread automobile travel and rising incomes led to surging visitation rates. Between 1950 and 1960, park visitation more than doubled, a pace that continued in the decade following. Balancing conservation and recreation became a delicate task, as the parks needed to accommodate the increasing number of visitors without compromising the delicate ecosystems.
The postwar era also saw the expansion of historical parks within the system, including Boston National Historical Park and Independence Historical Park in Philadelphia.
A complex legacy
American writer Wallace Stegner wrote in 1983, “The national parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.”
Certainly the national parks have much to recommend them, and are worthy of appreciation and preservation; however, the historical record reveals complex realities that challenge Stegner’s purely celebratory description.
First, while Americans tend to think of the national parks as preserves of “wilderness,” this is largely an illusion. Throughout their history, park landscapes have been intentionally designed and cultivated to seem like a picturesque wilderness. The creation of Shenandoah National Park in the 1930s, for example, involved the use of eminent domain to evict more than 500 rural households.
Similarly, more than 6,000 people were relocated during the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in east Tennessee. In both parks (and others like them), Civilian Conservation Corps workers demolished farms, orchards and other evidence of human habitation, and “restored” the landscape with imported trees and other vegetation deemed aesthetically pleasing to tourists.
Second, and more disturbing, is the often-overlooked fact that many national parks were made possible only by the displacement of Native peoples from their ancestral lands — usually by military force and without compensation. For example, the Ahwahneechee people inhabited the Yosemite Valley for thousands of years, cultivating the land to support their way of life. The California Gold Rush of the 1850s, however, brought an influx of settlers and miners to the region. The search for additional gold deposits led to violence against the Ahwahneechee, and escalating conflict. In the subsequent Mariposa Wars, local militias drove the natives from the valley and renamed it “Yosemite.”
By the time Yosemite was designated as a national park in 1890, the Ahwahneechee people had been largely removed from the area. A small number remained to work as performers in the park’s tourist industry, though they had to dress and dance as if they were from the Great Plains; park visitors expected “real Indians” to look like those they knew from books and movies. Over the course of a hundred years, the U.S. Army and National Park Service forced the Ahwahneechee to relocate four different times, finally evicting them from the park in 1969.
Sadly, the Yosemite story is hardly an outlier; major sites like Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Glacier were designated as national parks only after the forcible removal of native peoples who had used those lands for generations. The period from 1890-1934, during which the United States government pursued reservation confinement most aggressively, also saw the creation of more than 20 new national parks, most of them in the American West.
The interwoven nature of national parks and Indigenous conquest was highlighted by the Oglala Lakota leader Black Elk, who once observed grimly that the United States “made little islands for us and other little islands for the four-leggeds, and always these islands [for us] are becoming smaller.”
In recent decades, there has been a growing acknowledgment of the historical injustices faced by Indigenous peoples during the creation of the park system. Consultation and involvement of Native tribes in decision-making processes concerning park management and interpretation have improved, ensuring that their voices are heard and respected.
Moreover, efforts have been made to incorporate Native perspectives into educational programs and interpretive materials within the parks. An important symbol of this change came in 2021 when Debra Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, was confirmed as Secretary of the Interior (the federal department charged with managing national parks).
The National Park System today: A continuing legacy
Today, the United States’ National Park System comprises over 400 areas, including national parks, national monuments, national historic sites, national seashores and more, located in 30 states, as well as the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. More than 300 million people from around the world visit the nation’s parks every year. These places preserve not only natural wonders but also a tapestry of the nation’s history and culture.
While the National Park Service has evolved and done admirable work over years, the nation’s parks face challenges in the 21st century. Park service officials note that the effects of climate change — including droughts, wildfires, flooding and melting glaciers — threaten to dramatically alter park ecosystems. Increased visitation creates additional problems, such as pollution and overdevelopment.
Furthermore, despite consistently ranking among the most popular federal agencies, funding for the National Park Service has rarely been sufficient for fulfilling its broad and complex mission.
Ensuring that our parks remain “America’s best idea” will require a collective commitment to safeguarding these irreplaceable landscapes for all Americans in future generations.
Dr. Aaron Cowan is a professor of history at Slippery Rock University.
