Oldest and Newest National Parks (1872 to 2026)

By The Green Adventures · Updated Nov 1, 2026 · How we check

Yellowstone became the first national park in the world on March 1, 1872. The newest, Chiricahua in Arizona, got the title on October 20, 2026.

Every park, oldest first

#	Park	State	Became a national park
1	Yellowstone	Wyoming, Montana and Idaho	March 1, 1872
2	Sequoia	California	September 25, 1890
3	Yosemite	California	October 1, 1890
4	Mount Rainier	Washington	March 2, 1899
5	Crater Lake	Oregon	May 22, 1902
6	Wind Cave	South Dakota	January 9, 1903
7	Mesa Verde	Colorado	June 29, 1906
8	Glacier	Montana	May 11, 1910
9	Rocky Mountain	Colorado	January 26, 1915
10	Hawaiʻi Volcanoes	Hawaii	August 1, 1916
11	Lassen Volcanic	California	August 9, 1916
12	Denali	Alaska	February 26, 1917
13	Acadia	Maine	February 26, 1919
14	Grand Canyon	Arizona	February 26, 1919
15	Zion	Utah	November 19, 1919
16	Hot Springs	Arkansas	March 4, 1921
17	Bryce Canyon	Utah	February 25, 1928
18	Grand Teton	Wyoming	February 26, 1929
19	Carlsbad Caverns	New Mexico	May 14, 1930
20	Everglades	Florida	May 30, 1934
21	Great Smoky Mountains	North Carolina and Tennessee	June 15, 1934
22	Shenandoah	Virginia	December 26, 1935
23	Olympic	Washington	June 29, 1938
24	Kings Canyon	California	March 4, 1940
25	Isle Royale	Michigan	April 3, 1940
26	Mammoth Cave	Kentucky	July 1, 1941
27	Big Bend	Texas	June 12, 1944
28	Virgin Islands	U.S. Virgin Islands	August 2, 1956
29	Haleakalā	Hawaii	July 1, 1961
30	Petrified Forest	Arizona	December 9, 1962
31	Canyonlands	Utah	September 12, 1964
32	North Cascades	Washington	October 2, 1968
33	Redwood	California	October 2, 1968
34	Arches	Utah	November 12, 1971
35	Capitol Reef	Utah	December 18, 1971
36	Guadalupe Mountains	Texas	September 30, 1972
37	Voyageurs	Minnesota	April 8, 1975
38	Badlands	South Dakota	November 10, 1978
39	Theodore Roosevelt	North Dakota	November 10, 1978
40	Channel Islands	California	March 5, 1980
41	Biscayne	Florida	June 28, 1980
42	Gates of the Arctic	Alaska	December 2, 1980
43	Glacier Bay	Alaska	December 2, 1980
44	Katmai	Alaska	December 2, 1980
45	Kenai Fjords	Alaska	December 2, 1980
46	Kobuk Valley	Alaska	December 2, 1980
47	Lake Clark	Alaska	December 2, 1980
48	Wrangell-St. Elias	Alaska	December 2, 1980
49	Great Basin	Nevada	October 27, 1986
50	American Samoa	American Samoa	October 31, 1988
51	Dry Tortugas	Florida	October 26, 1992
52	Saguaro	Arizona	October 14, 1994
53	Death Valley	California and Nevada	October 31, 1994
54	Joshua Tree	California	October 31, 1994
55	Black Canyon of the Gunnison	Colorado	October 21, 1999
56	Cuyahoga Valley	Ohio	October 11, 2000
57	Congaree	South Carolina	November 10, 2003
58	Great Sand Dunes	Colorado	September 24, 2004
59	Pinnacles	California	January 10, 2013
60	Gateway Arch	Missouri	February 22, 2018
61	Indiana Dunes	Indiana	February 15, 2019
62	White Sands	New Mexico	December 20, 2019
63	New River Gorge	West Virginia	December 27, 2020
64	Chiricahua	Arizona	October 20, 2026

Many parks were protected earlier under another name, often as a national monument, before Congress made them national parks. The dates here are when each got the national park title.