Get closer to America's Oldest State Park at Niagara Falls State Park! Find out for yourself why millions of visitors are drawn to this magnificent natural wonder every year.
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People were beginning to realize that their state, named for its abundant trees, was becoming the Pennsylvania Desert. On a national level, Yosemite became the first state park in the United States in 1865.
Bogd Khan Uul National Park, Mongolia (1783)Many mistakenly think America's Yellowstone National Park is the oldest in the world but there's one that was created a century earlier. Established by the Mongolian government in 1778, the area surrounding Bogd Khan Uul Biosphere Reserve is actually the oldest in the world.
Yellowstone National Park - 1872On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant designated Yellowstone as the first national park in the United States and the world. Today, the park is home to the world's largest collection of geysers, including the iconic Old Faithful.
A bill creating the first national park, Yellowstone, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, followed by Mackinac National Park in 1875 (decommissioned in 1895), and then Rock Creek Park (later merged into National Capital Parks), Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890.
Boston Common was purchased for public use grazing cows and as a military parade ground and dump in 1634. It first started to get recreational elements in 1728, arguably making it the first municipal park in the United States and the world, though cow grazing did not end until the 1830s.
The smallest park in the world! Mill Ends Park is a tiny urban park, consisting of one tree, located in the median strip of SW Naito Parkway in downtown Portland, Oregon. The park is a small circle 2 feet across, with a total area of 452 square inches (0.00007205784 acres).
Established in 1634, Boston Common is America's oldest public park. Puritan colonists purchased the land rights to the Common's 44 acres from the first European settler of the area, Anglican minister William Blackstone.
The smallest park is Gateway Arch National Park, Missouri, at 192.83 acres (0.7804 km2). The total area protected by national parks is approximately 52.4 million acres (212,000 km2), for an average of 833 thousand acres (3,370 km2) but a median of only 220 thousand acres (890 km2).
Map of the U.S. showing the 2023 ParkScore for the 100 biggest metro areas. D.C. has the highest ParkScore at 85 out of 100, followed by St.Paul, Minn.
The Boston Common, designated as a public open space in 1634, is considered the nation's first city park. A total of 16 parks were created before 1800, including the National Mall in Washington, DC, in 1790 (Trust for Public Land 2008).