Today in History: April 5
National Park Service
The parks are the Nation's pleasure grounds and the Nation's restoring places…
J. Horace McFarland, president of the American Civic Association,
National Park Service. Hearing Before the Committee on Public Lands…, April 5-6, 1916.
The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920
Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir, Glacier Point, Yosemite Valley, California,
Underwood & Underwood, copyright claimant, copyright 1906.
By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present
Conservationists, civic leaders, and government officials submitted testimony before Congress in favor of the establishment of the National Park Service on April 5 and April 6, 1916.
The congressional debate over the proper management of the growing system of national parks began in 1912 and culminated with the passage, in 1916, of the National Park Service Act. This legislation created the National Park Service within the Department of the Interior. Stephen T. Mather was named its first director.
In making his case for the agency, Richard B. Watrous, Secretary of the American Civic Association, recalled the rationale made by Secretary of the Interior Richard A. Ballinger in 1910.
"In order that creditable progress may be made in each of the national parks," Ballinger had written:
liberal appropriations will be required…to create a bureau of national parks and resorts, under the supervision of a competent commissioner, with a suitable force of superintendents, supervising engineers, and landscape architects, inspectors, park guards, and other employees.Richard B. Watrous, Secretary of the American Civic Association,
National Park Service. Hearing Before the Committee on Public Lands…, April 5-6, 1916.
The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920
Others pointed to the long-term economic benefits likely to accrue from the efficient investment in and management of the national parks.
When it was established on August 25, 1916, the National Park Service (NPS) supervised 40 national parks and monuments in some 390 areas. It now includes 390 areas covering more than 84 million acres in every state except Delaware, as well as in the District of Columbia, and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. NPS sites—not only national parks and monuments—but also battlefields, military parks, historic sites, recreation areas, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores and seashores, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House, attract hundreds of millions of visitors each year.
Map of Yellowstone Park Showing Proposed Railroad Line and Hotels, circa 1900.
Yellowstone Maps, 1871-1988
in Map Collections
- Mapping the National Parks documents the history, cultural aspects, and geological formations of areas that eventually became national parks. The collection consists of approximately 200 maps dating from the 17th century to the present. Browse the collection by subject, title, creator, or geographic location. There are also special presentations on Acadia, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, and Yellowstone National Parks.
- A search on national park service in Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey, 1933-Present yields hundreds of drawings, photographs, and data pages on a wide variety of NPS areas.
- Search A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875 to find additional Congressional publications through 1875 that relate to the conservation movement and the creation of the National Park Service.
- Search on national parks in THOMAS to find current bills, laws, and debates in Congress affecting the National Park Service and other environmental issues.
- Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920 and Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991 contain a large selection of photographs featuring national parks; to view these images, search the collections on national park, national forest, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Glacier Park, or the park of your choice.
- See the Today in History features on Yosemite, Mount Rainier, and Acadia parks, as well as the feature on naturalist John Muir, who deserves much of the credit for gaining national park status for Yosemite, and for alerting Americans to the need to protect this site as well as other natural wonders.
- Visit the National Park Service's Web site provides information about visiting national park service areas. Educators will find online resources in History and Culture and in LearnNPS.
Lake McDonald, Glacier Park, Montana, copyright 1915.
Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991