A Chicago Letter

In 1914, Stephen Mather, a Chicago businessman who spent his spare time outdoors, wrote Secretary of the Interior Franklin Lane to complain about the parks. Parks already existed. Yellowstone had been set aside in 1872, signed by President Ulysses S. Grant, as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. Other parks and monuments followed, split among Interior, the War Department, and the Forest Service. No single agency kept them.

Lane wrote back. If you don't like the way things are run, come to Washington and run them yourself. Mather accepted. He came as Lane's special assistant and spent two years building support for a parks bureau.

The Act

On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act. It created the National Park Service, a new bureau in the Department of the Interior, responsible for the 35 parks and monuments then under the department and for those still to come. The Service had two jobs at once. Conserve the scenery, the natural and historic objects, and the wildlife. Provide for their enjoyment in such a manner as would leave them unimpaired for future generations.

Mather became the first director. Horace Albright became his assistant. They let automobiles into Yellowstone. They asked railroads and nature groups for help. They tried to keep visitors coming without using the parks up.

Historic Ground

In 1933 an executive order transferred 56 national monuments and military sites from the Forest Service and the War Department. Battlefields and memorials came under the same hat as the geysers. The grounds around the White House, Lafayette Park to the north and the Ellipse to the south, have been an NPS unit since that year. Rangers keep President's Park. There is no gate fee.

In 2007, First Lady Laura Bush dressed the official Blue Room tree as Holiday in the National Parks. Artists made ornaments for parks, memorials, seashores, historic sites, and monuments.

Today, August 25, 2026, is the Service's 110th birthday. Entrance fees are waived for U.S. citizens and residents at sites that normally charge. Camping, tours, and timed entry still cost. National Park Week runs through August 30.

Still There

Yellowstone was the first park. The Service came later, to keep it and the rest.

Our Yellowstone National Park Heritage Collection ornament is solid brass, made in America, and sold only here. Bison, a bear, the Grand Prismatic Spring.

See the Yellowstone ornament. Collect the rest of the National Park Heritage Collection.