The National Park Service celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2016.
Congress created the National Park Service when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act on August 25, 1916. The centennial therefore fell in 2016, exactly one century after the agency’s establishment.
The centennial campaign was called the NPS Centennial, and its broader public initiative was Find Your Park. The anniversary encouraged visitors to explore national parks and other units throughout the National Park System, not only places formally titled national parks.
The 2016 centennial is sometimes confused with the 50th anniversary of Mission 66, the large modernization program that concluded around 1966. It is also distinct from the National Park System’s older milestones, such as Yellowstone’s establishment in 1872. In 2026, the agency reaches its 110th anniversary.