Posted on February 26, 2020
In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established.
It was the first national park in the United States - and also the first national park in the world!
A bunch of national parks were established in the West: Yosemite and Sequoia in California (1890), Mount Rainier in Washington (1899), Crater Lake in Oregon (1902), Mesa Verde in Colorado (1906), Glacier in Montana (1910), another from Colorado - Rocky Mountain (1915), another from California - Lassen Volcanic (1916), Hawaii Volcanoes and Haleakala in Hawaii (1916), Denali in Alaska (1917). 
(By the way, in all those 45 years, only one national park was established somewhere other than "the West" - and it was only barely not in the West; Wind Cave, in South Dakota, is in the western part of the state and therefore the westernmost part of the Mid-West!) The West still rules when it comes to national parks:
Finally, on this date in 1919, the U.S. got around to protecting Arizona's shining jewel: President Woodrow Wilson signed an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park.
(Actually, the Grand Canyon had been protected when it became a National Monument, in 1908, but it was upgraded to full N.P. status in 1919.)
Check out why we want this place protected:
Also on this date:
Birthday of astronomer and author Camille Flammarion
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