Date: August 8, 2016
Contact: Dave Schafer, 830-868-7128 ext 235
JOHNSON CITY, TEXAS –On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act, establishing the National Park Service to care for the country's national parks. At its inception the fledgling agency managed 35 national parks and monuments. Over the past century the national park system expanded to its current size of 412 park units. On Thursday, August 25, 2016, you are invited to join the park staff at Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park to celebrate 100 years of preserving many of America's most treasured places. During this anniversary celebration the park will host several activities throughout the day.
Park visitors are invited to participate in National Park Service (NPS) Centennial activities on August 25, including signing large birthday cards, eating birthday cake, and making souvenir buttons. Park Ranger David Graveline will present "100 Years of America's Best Idea!" at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm at the LBJ Ranch. Visitors attending this program will learn about NPS history and test their NPS knowledge with trivia that will have an LBJ twist. Throughout the day in the park visitor center in Johnson City, the park will screen the 55-minute film The National Parks of Texas: In Contact With Beauty. Narrated by Kay Bailey Hutchison, this 2016 film takes viewers on a tour through the fourteen national parks and two historic trails in Texas.
On August 25 the park will offer special limited tours of the Texas White House that will include the home's second floor. Led by park rangers, these six-person tours will be offered during the morning and late afternoon of August 25.All visitors going on these tours must be able to ascend and descend a stairway and be able to stand throughout the 55-minute tour. Children and infants will each need a ticket—even if carried. Reservations for these limited tours will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 9:30 am on Monday, August 15 by calling 830-868-7128 ext. 246.
In celebration of the NPS Centennial, all Texas White House tours will be free from Thursday, August 25 through Sunday, August 28. Tickets for the regularly-scheduled first-floor tours can be obtained each day at the LBJ Ranch hangar visitor center.
Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is open seven days a week from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. For more information call 830-868-7128 ext. 231 or 244, or visit www.nps.gov/lyjo and www.facebook.com/LBJohnsonNPS.
More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 412 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice. For more information on the NPS Centennial visit www.nps.gov/subjects/centennial/index.htm.
