Which National Park Service park was the first whose land and other costs were partly paid with federal funds?

Great Smoky Mountains National Park was the first national park whose land and other costs were partly paid with federal funds.

Established in 1934, the park represented a new approach to creating national parks. Earlier parks were generally formed from land already owned by the federal government or acquired through state and private funding. The Smokies required purchasing thousands of privately held parcels, including farms, forests, and timber-company lands.

Tennessee and North Carolina helped fund the effort, while private citizens and organizations raised additional money. John D. Rockefeller Jr. contributed $5 million in 1928, one of the campaign’s most important gifts. Federal funding also became part of the park’s acquisition and development story.

The park’s history is more complicated than a simple donation narrative. Some residents were displaced, and the government acquired land through purchases and, in some cases, condemnation. Great Smoky Mountains National Park was formally dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 and is now one of the most visited units in the National Park System.