The Grand Canyon became well known to Americans in the 1880s after railroads were built and pioneers developed infrastructure and early tourism.[1] In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt visited the site and said,

The Grand Canyon fills me with awe. It is beyond comparison—beyond description; absolutely unparalleled through-out the wide world ... Let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is. Do nothing to mar its grandeur, sublimity and loveliness. You cannot improve on it. But you can keep it for your children, your children's children, and all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see.[2]

Despite Roosevelt's enthusiasm and strong interest in preserving land for public use, the Grand Canyon was not immediately designated as a national park. The first bill to establish Grand Canyon National Park was introduced in 1882 by then-Senator Benjamin Harrison, which would have established Grand Canyon as the third national park in the United States, after Yellowstone and Mackinac. Harrison unsuccessfully reintroduced his bill in 1883 and 1886; after his election to the presidency, he established the Grand Canyon Forest Reserve in 1893. Theodore Roosevelt created the Grand Canyon Game Preserve by proclamation on November 28, 1906,[3] and the Grand Canyon National Monument on January 11, 1908.[4] Further Senate bills to establish the site as a national park were introduced and defeated in 1910 and 1911, before the Grand Canyon National Park Act was finally signed by President Woodrow Wilson on February 26, 1919.[5] The National Park Service, established in 1916, assumed administration of the park.

The creation of the park was an early success of the conservation movement. Its national park status may have helped thwart proposals to dam the Colorado River within its boundaries. (Later, the Glen Canyon Dam would be built upriver.) A second Grand Canyon National Monument to the west was proclaimed in 1932.[6] In 1975, that monument and Marble Canyon National Monument, which was established in 1969 and followed the Colorado River northeast from the Grand Canyon to Lees Ferry, were made part of Grand Canyon National Park. In 1979, UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site. The 1987 the National Parks Overflights Act[7] found that "Noise associated with aircraft overflights at the Grand Canyon National Park is causing a significant adverse effect on the natural quiet and experience of the park and current aircraft operations at the Grand Canyon National Park have raised serious concerns regarding public safety, including concerns regarding the safety of park users."

In 2010, Grand Canyon National Park was honored with its own coin under the America the Beautiful Quarters program.[8] On February 26, 2019, the Grand Canyon National Park commemorated 100 years since its designation as a national park.[9]

The Grand Canyon had been part of the National Park Service's Intermountain Region until 2018.[citation needed] Today, the Grand Canyon is a part of Region 8, also known as the Lower Colorado Basin.[10]

Legal history timeline 1882 First unsuccessful attempt to establish a Grand Canyon National Park 1893 Designated a "forest reserve" by President Benjamin Harrison (Presidential Proclamation #45) 1908 Established as Grand Canyon National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt (Presidential Proclamation #794) 1919 Designation of Grand Canyon National Park by an act of Congress on February 26 (40 Stat 1175) 1975 Grand Canyon National Park Enlargement Act an act of Congress on January 3 (88 Stat 2089) (Public Law 93-620) 1979 Designation as a World Heritage Site on October 26[11]Administrators William Harrison Peters (acting): August 1919 – September 1920 Dewitt L. Raeburn: October 1920 – December 1921 John Roberts White (acting): December 1921 – February 1922 Walter Wilson Crosby: February 1922 – January 1924 George C. Bolton (acting): January 1923 – June 1923 John Ross Eakin: January 1924 – April 1927 Miner Raymond Tillotson: April 1927 – December 1938 James V. Lloyd (acting): December 1938 – February 1939 Harold Child Bryant (acting): February 1939 – January 1940 James V. Lloyd (acting): January 1940 – August 1940 Frank Alvah Kittredge: August 1940 – July 1941 Harold Child Bryant: August 1941 – March 1954 Preston P. Patraw: May 1954 – July 1955 John Sherman McLaughlin: August 1955 – March 1964 Howard B. Stricklin: March 1964 – February 1969 Robert R. Lovegren April 1969 – July 1972 Merle E. Stitt: August 1972 – January 1980 Bruce W. Shaw (acting): January 1980 – May 1980 Richard W. Marks: May 1980 – December 1988 John C. Reed (acting): December 1988 – January 1989 John H. Davis: January 1989 – August 1991 Robert Chandler: October 1991 – October 1993 Boyd Evison (acting): January 1994 – July 1994 Robert L. Arnberger: July 1994 – October 2000[12]