Badlands National Park

The story

The striped rock formations were authorized for protection as a national monument in 1929, but weren't formally established until January 1939 after Depression-era delays. It stayed a monument for nearly 40 years until Congress redesignated it Badlands National Park on November 10, 1978, expanding it onto Oglala Lakota land within the Pine Ridge Reservation. The Ben Reifel Visitor Center is named for the first Native American from South Dakota elected to Congress. The park's escarpment is literally the feature the town of Wall was named for, and it holds one of the world's richest Oligocene mammal fossil beds.

Everything that was here

• 1939–present · still open

  Badlands National ParkNational Park

  Congress authorized protecting the Badlands' lunar-like spires in 1929, but the park wasn't established for another decade — and it didn't become a full national park until 1978.

  See the map in 1940 →

Did you know?

Nearby history