Building the National Parks

Since its founding in 1916, the National Park Service has been charged with two equally important and often conflicting missions: to preserve our country's natural wonders for future generations and to develop national parks for the appreciation and enjoyment of visitors.

Recalling the era of the great lodges at Yellowstone and Yosemite, Building the National Parks tells the story of how the new bureau's landscape designers, architects, and engineers met each of these challenges, forging a rich legacy of buildings, roads, and trails that both harmonized with the natural scenery and accommodated visitors to the parks.

Their achievements - detailed for the first time here - have greatly influenced the design of state and local parks and other recreational areas across the United States.