Which 1872 site became the world’s first national park, a milestone in America’s long public-land history?

Yellowstone National Park became the world’s first national park in 1872.

President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act on March 1, 1872. The law reserved more than two million acres in the territories of Montana and Wyoming as a public park for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. Idaho was later included within the park’s boundaries.

Yellowstone’s geothermal features, including Old Faithful and the Grand Prismatic Spring, helped inspire support for protecting the region from private development. The park also contains canyons, forests, lakes, and major wildlife populations such as bison, elk, grizzly bears, and wolves.

A frequent mix-up is treating Yosemite as the first national park. Yosemite became a national park in 1890, although Yosemite Valley had received earlier federal protection. Yellowstone’s creation established a model later used around the world, and the National Park Service was created in 1916 to manage Yellowstone and other national parks.