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Home Monuments
for The
First Battlefield
Parks - pgs Later Evolution of the National Military Park Idea
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III.
THE FIRST BATTLEFIELD PARKS, In a period when conservation was becoming popular, it was perhaps more than coincidence that during this same decade Congress also authorized establishment of the first four scenic national parks to follow creation of Yellowstone in 1872. These were Yosemite, Sequoia, and General Grant authorized in 1890, and Mount Rainier in 1899. The fact that one of these four western national parks was named after the leading general of the Union Army is an interesting reflection of the spirit of the times. In 1890, also, Congress authorized establishment of Rock Creek Park in the District of Columbia, one of the three earliest large metropolitan parks in the United States, comparable to Central Park in New York City and Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. It was not possible to foresee in 1899 that in due course these natural and historic Federal reservations, together with others subsequently created, would be joined together in one National Park System. Nevertheless, the seeds of the future were present from the beginning. Battlefields as National Possessions The
First Battlefield Parks - pgs
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