Which national park became the world’s first national park when President Ulysses S. Grant signed its creation law in 1872?

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 the region in present-day Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho as a public park and pleasure ground for the benefit of future generations.

Yellowstone’s first status was a federal reservation rather than a unit managed by the National Park Service, which did not exist until 1916. The U.S. Army administered Yellowstone from 1886 until the National Park Service took over in 1918.

Yellowstone is famous for geothermal features such as Old Faithful, but its significance also includes its wildlife, lakes, forests, and extensive volcanic landscape. Yosemite and Sequoia became national parks later, in 1890.