Yellowstone National Park turned 150 years old in 2022.
As the U.S. continues to celebrate a milestone anniversary of this treasured American national park — now 152 years old in 2024 — here’s a collection of fascinating facts, featured players and sometimes-forgotten but always interesting details, numbers, quotes and more connected to our remarkable national preserve.
Check out these 152 facts!
Yellowstone’s beginnings
1. Established on March 1, 1872, Yellowstone National Park became the first national park in the U.S.
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2. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone Protection Act into law for “the benefit and enjoyment of the people.”
3. President Grant never visited Yellowstone, but he explored areas of the American West such as Washington state, Nebraska, the Dakotas and Colorado — all of which piqued his interest in wildlife preservation.
One of the entrances to Yellowstone National Park is shown here. (iStock)
4. Archeological sites, trails and oral histories prove that humans have inhabited Yellowstone for the last 11,000 years.
5. Yellowstone National Park was the site of 27 Native American tribes for more than 10,000 years before the park was founded.
6. The first organized European American expedition explored Yellowstone in 1870.
7. The railroad arrived at Yellowstone in 1883, expanding accessibility to the park.
8. The U.S. Army was put in charge of watching over the park in 1886.
Yellowstone National Park stretches for 3,472 square miles and across more than 2.2 million acres — making it larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.
9. In the early 1900s, the federal government launched a campaign that killed off nearly all predatory species and bison.
10. The National Park Service was founded in 1916.
Yellowstone’s geography
11. Yellowstone exists across 3 states — mostly in Wyoming (96%) and in Montana (3%) and Idaho (1%) as well.
12. The highest point of…