Congress establishes Yellowstone as the first National Park, though few guidelines or funds are assigned to preserve it.

Sequoia, Yosemite, and General Grant National Park in California all followed with National Park status in 1890. The National Park Service was not officially established until the National Parks Act of 1916 was signed by President Woodrow Wilson.

Phyllis Anderson, et al. Keeping Eden: A History of Gardening in America. Edited by Punch, Walter T., (Boston: Bullfinch Press, 1992.)