100 Years of National ParksYears of National Parks Service Long before the National Park System was officially created, there were a number of activists and movements that raised awareness leading up to 1916. See how the NPS has become what it is today in 2016 by first looking back to 1872 where it all started. An act establishing Yellowstone National Park was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.
