Overview

The birth of the present-day park involved controversy and a struggle that lasted several decades.

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Overview Details

The birth of present-day Grand Teton National Park involved controversy and a struggle that lasted several decades. Opposition to expansion of governmental jurisdiction in Jackson Hole, combined with a perceived loss of individual freedoms, helped to fuel anti-park sentiments that nearly derailed establishment of the original national park. In contrast, Yellowstone National Park benefited from an expedient and near-universal agreement for its creation in 1872. The world's first national park took just two years from idea to reality. Grand Teton National Park, however, materialized over 50 years through a burdensome process requiring a series of compromises and three separate governmental acts. The initial Grand Teton National Park — set aside by an act of Congress in 1929 — included only the Teton Range and six glacial lakes at the base of the mountains. The Jackson Hole National Monument, decreed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt through presidential proclamation in 1943, combined Teton National Forest lands with other federal acres, plus Jackson Lake and a 35,000-acre donation by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The Rockefeller properties continued to be privately owned until Dec. 16, 1949 when an impasse for inclusion into the initial national park was resolved. On Sept. 14, 1950, the original 1929 Park and the 1943 National Monument (including Rockefeller's acreage) were united into a 'new' Grand Teton National Park, with its current, more expansive boundary.

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