Yellowstone Was Only the Beginning

The idea of setting aside land for the public's benefit was revolutionary when President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill creating the first national park in the world—Yellowstone National Park, on March 1, 1872. It covered two million acres in the northwest corner of Wyoming Territory and spilled into Idaho and Montana territories. The bill protected Yellowstone from private greed and ordered the area to be “dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit an