100 years of US National Parks History - Statistics

General Stats
  • This quiz has been taken 39 times
  • The average score is 61 of 101
Answer Stats
Year Hint Answer % Correct
1919 This president, hunter, and conservationist dies Theodore Roosevelt
100%
1935 This dam is completed, creating the reservoir that would become Lake Mead National Recreation Area Hoover Dam
92%
1928 This hotel, named for a nearby geyser, is finally completed with the construction of its west wing Old Faithful Inn
92%
1920 For the first time, annual visitation of national parks exceeds this round number 1 Million
88%
1954 This famous island, the "gateway to America", shuts its doors after processing more than 12 million immigrants. It would later become part of a National Monument Ellis Island
88%
1931 Congress passes a law providing for the creation of the first international conservation area in the US, combining Alberta's Waterton Lakes and this US National Park Glacier
88%
1918 Members of this religious group successfully lobby to rename Mukuntuweap National Monument to Zion National Monument Mormon
88%
1927 Blasting begins on this monument in the Black Hills Mount Rushmore
88%
1955 This woman refuses to surrender her seat on a bus, kicking off the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This is one of many events celebrated by the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument Rosa Parks
88%
1946 Following the end of this war, yearly visitation of national parks quadruples WWII
88%
1921 Denali National Park established kennels for this unique sport Dogsledding
85%
1939 Marian Anderson sings a concert from this DC National Memorial, because she was barred from Constitution Hall for being black. Nearly 25 years later, Martin Luther King, Jr. would deliver his "I have a dream" speech from the same spot. Lincoln Memorial
85%
1949 San Juan National Historic Site becomes the first NPS property in this US territory Puerto Rico
85%
2008 Utah loses a geologic treasure when this sort of feature came crashing down Sandstone Arch
85%
1916 This president signs a bill which creates the National Park Service Woodrow Wilson
85%
1937 This National Scenic Trail, the first of the 'big three', is completed Appalachian Trail
81%
1945 This weapon is tested for the first time in what would become White Sands National Park Nuclear Bomb
81%
1962 Point Reyes National Seashore becomes the first one along this major body of water Pacific Ocean
81%
1924 This iconic copper statue is proclaimed a National Monument Statue of Liberty
81%
1929 Lafayette National Park, the first east of the Mississippi, is renamed to this Acadia
77%
1989 Despite the efforts of conservation groups, the superindentendent of Yosemite choses not to ban this form of transport from the park Cars
77%
1967 Just three years after this man ceased to be president, a National Historic Site is established in his honor. No other president has been honored with a NPS site more quickly. John F. Kennedy
77%
1971 This National Monument in southern California, named for the largest species of yucca plant, is redesignated as a National Park Joshua Tree
77%
1987 This National Historic Trail is designated, in honor of the 46,000 native americans who were forced out of their homeland and made to walk its bitter path Trail of Tears
77%
1988 Following the establishment of the National Park of American Samoa, the total number of National Parks reaches this round number 50
73%
2002 Flight 93 National Memorial is established in Pennsylvania to celebrate the heroism of airline passengers during this major tragedy 9/11
73%
1977 101 million acres of land in this state is preserved by a single law, including Misty Fjords, Admiralty Island, and Aniakchak National Monuments Alaska
73%
2005 An unusually wet winter creates a lake for the first time in decades in this National Park in California and Nevada Death Valley
73%
1965 This object, the tallest thing in Missouri, is completed. It would later be designated, controversially, as a National Park in 2018 Gateway Arch
73%
1950 Congress passes a law which established this national park, but also provided that there would be no further expansion of National Parks or Monuments in Wyoming without congressional approval Grand Teton
73%
2012 For the first and only time in the history of Denali National Park, a tourist is killed by one of these animals Grizzly Bear
73%
2015 Barack Obama forces the USGS to stop referring to Denali by this outdated name, thirty-five years after the park changed its name Mount McKinley
73%
2010 The "America the Beautiful" mint series is kicked off when Hot Springs National Park was printed on this kind of currency Quarter
73%
1974 This president leaves office, becoming the first since the passage of the Antiquities Act who did not designate a single national monument Richard Nixon
73%
2007 Two men are convicted for digging up two of these iconic plants from an Arizona national park Saguaro Cactus
73%
1983 Redwood National Park is used as the filming location for the forest moon of Endor in this movie Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
73%
1985 The Election Day Floods strike Shenandoah River in this state, with more than 18 inches of rain recorded in a single day in Shenandoah National Park Virginia
73%
1995 Eight of these mammals are reintroduced to Yellowstone Wolves
73%
2016 This species, prominently featured on the NPS logo, is named the US National Mammal Bison
69%
1923 This Utah National Monument, which would later become a National Park, is named in honor of a Mormon pioneer with the first name Ebenezer Bryce Canyon
69%
1933 This alliterative New Deal policy is created, putting young men to work on infrastructure projects in National Parks and other public lands Civilian Conservation Corps
69%
2013 This state, the last one without an NPS site, is finally given one: the First State National Historical Park Delaware
69%
1926 Calvin Coolidge refers to this giant sequoia, named after a president and civil war general, as "the Nation's Christmas tree" General Grant
69%
1934 This National Park, the most-visited in the country, is established Great Smoky Mountains
69%
2004 This Nicholas Cage movie features a number of NPS sites, including Independence National Historical Park in Pennsylvania National Treasure
69%
1960 The Hubbel Trading Post National Historic Site is established to celebrate trade between white settlers and this southwest tribe, on whose reservation the site sits Navajo
69%
1940 Kings Canyon National Park, in California, is established along the northern border of this other National Park, forming the first pair of bordering parks Sequoia
69%
1952 This river, which would later be designated as Ohio's only National Park, catches fire due to extreme levels of pollution Cuyahoga
65%
1948 A National Monmuent is dedicated to preserve this sea fort in Charleston, the site of the first battle of the Civil War Fort Sumter
65%
1986 This National Park, the only one completely inside Nevada, is established and named after a large endorheic basin that covers much of the Western US Great Basin
65%
1972 Congress names the highway between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks after this oil baron and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller
65%
1964 The home of this preservationist and Sierra Club president is protected as a National Historic Site John Muir
65%
1998 Two historic parks, one in the US and one in Canada, celebrate the centennial of this event that brought prospectors to the Yukon Klondike Gold Rush
65%
2000 Hanford Reach National Monument is established around nuclear facilities that were part of this WWII "project" Manhattan Project
65%
1976 The southern half of Badlands National Park is returned to this native tribe, which now co-manages the park Oglala Lakota
65%
2014 Two boy scout leaders videotape themselves destroying a hoodoo in a park in this state Utah
65%
1982 Construction begins on this National Memorial in DC, which consists of two long, straight walls of black granite etched with names Vietnam Veterans Memorial
65%
1959 This natural disaster strikes in Yellowstone National Park, killing 28 Earthquake
62%
1944 US forces land on Agat Beach on this island as part of the campaign to recapture it. Agat Beach would become the center of the War in the Pacific National Historic Park Guam
62%
1961 Yogi Bear, a resident of this fictional National Park, appears for the first time in his own show Jellystone
62%
1979 Protesters against the 1977 national monuments light an effigy of this president on fire Jimmy Carter
62%
1980 This volcano explodes, killing 57 Mount St. Helens
62%
1981 This park, which contains a 73-mile stretch of Pacific coast, an inland mountain range, and the northernmost rainforest in the US, is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site Olympic National Park
62%
1992 A National Historic Site in Kansas is named after this supreme court case, possibly the most famous in US history Brown v. Board of Education
58%
1925 This fort, from which Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem, is designated a National Monument Fort McHenry
58%
1966 Dorothy Richardson Buell is successful in her effort to preserve this stretch of Lake Michigan coastline, which would later become Indiana's first National Park Indiana Dunes
58%
1968 Backlash against development, including nuclear plants to power Miami, leads to the creation of this national monument which would later become a park Biscayne Bay
54%
1993 This latino rights advocate and co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association dies on his property in California, which would later become a national monument Cesar Chavez
54%
1984 This US territory is included in the Federal Fish & Wildlife Restoration Act American Samoa
50%
2011 Hurricane Irene causes significant damage in this famous Massachusetts seashore Cape Cod
50%
1994 The first US-Mexico transboundary conservation area is created following the establishment of Canon de Santa Elena national park in this Mexican state, across the border from Big Bend Chihuahua
50%
1973 This landmark piece of legislation is passed, providing for the protection of species near to extinction Endangered Species Act
50%
1969 This pro-LGBT riot, which would be recognized in a National Monument in 2016, occurs in New York Stonewall
50%
1943 This all-black squadron of military pilots, who would later be honored with a National Historic site in Georgia, deploys to North Africa Tuskeegee Airmen
50%
1951 The modern NPS logo, shaped like this object, is authorized as the official NPS emblem Arrowhead
46%
1932 Work begins on this project, the first major National Parkway and the most-visited unit in the NPS system Blue Ridge Parkway
46%
1938 This painter, famous for paintings of New Mexico landscapes and desert flowers, visits Yosemite National Park Georgia O'Keefe
46%
2009 This famous historical documentarian, perhaps best known for his 9-part miniseries on the Civil War, releases a new series: National Parks, America's Best Idea Ken Burns
46%
2006 This band releases Dani California, a song about a girl who dies in Badlands National Park Red Hot Chili Peppers
46%
1941 This legendary National Park photographer and Sierra Club member is contracted by the NPS for the first time Ansel Adams
42%
1958 Warren Harding and his team make the first ascent of "the nose", a climbing route on this Yosemite monolith El Capitan
42%
1997 "Old Grey Guy", a large wolf, crosses 15 miles of ice to this national park Isle Royale
42%
1991 Montana's Custer Battlefield National Monument is renamed to this as part of a plan to recognize & honor native combatants Little Bighorn Battlefield
42%
1999 This tribe launches an ambitious effort to preserve the aquatic ecosystems in the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve Seminole
42%
2003 Aron Ralston narrowly escapes a slot canyon in Canyonlands National Park, after foolishly endangering himself by hiking alone without telling anyone his itinerary. His 5-day ordeal would later be made into this hit movie 127 hours
38%
1975 A National Historical Park in this city celebrates the bicentennial of the Battle of Bunker Hill Boston
38%
1947 Marjory Stoneman Douglass famously describes the Everglades as a "River of {Grass}" in a book which started the effort to preserve the area
38%
1956 128 people die in this type of tragedy over Grand Canyon National Park, making this event the single most common cause of death in the park Plane Crash
38%
1936 An international peace memorial is established in northern Ohio to celebrate the victory of this American commodore in one of the most important naval battles in the War of 1812 Commodore Perry
35%
1996 This national monument, whose size would later be slashed in half by President Trump, is established Grand Staircase-Escalante
35%
1963 This new reservoir behind the Glen Canyon dam is named for a legendary explorer of the Colorado River Lake Powell
31%
1978 This trail, the longest north-south National Scenic Trail, is established Continental Divide Trail
27%
1990 This volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, widely considered to be the most active on earth, buries the town of Kalapana and kills over 100 with a lava flow Kilauea
23%
1953 Bernard DeVoto publishes a widely-read article suggesting that this drastic action be taken by the NPS in order to highlight the level of underfunding and disrepair in the parks as Congress continued to pilfer funds for other purposes Close the National Parks
19%
1970 Ths home of this Polish-American revolutionary, who is also the namesake of the highest mountain in Australia, is added to the National Register of Historic Places Tadeusz Kościuszko
19%
1930 Sunset Crater Volcano, the largest volcano of this unique type, is protected in Arizona Cinder Cone
15%
1917 This man is appointed to be the first director of the NPS Stephen Mather
15%
2001 Roxanne Quimby uses her fortune to begin purchasing land around the highest mountain in Maine for the creation of this national monument {Katahdin} Woods and Waters
12%
1942 This "mountain warfare" division of the army, which would be instrumental in driving Nazis from the Italian alps, trains during the winter on snowy Mount Rainier 10th Mountain Division
8%
1922 This man, an escaped slave who was the third african american graduate of West Point and the first black superintendent of a National Park, dies on a mission in Nigeria Charles Young
4%
1957 This famous author of "The Monkey Wrench Gang" leaves his job as a park ranger in Arches National Park Edward Abbey
0%
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