Loved for its geothermal treasures, waterways, and bounty of wildlife, Yellowstone is the oldest national park in America's National Park Service (NPS), established way back in 1872. We've dug through the site's stunning archive photos, from early animal encounters to thundering falls.

Read on to discover the history of this iconic national park told through incredible vintage images...

Though Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872, the story of this land begins long before that. In fact, it's believed that humans have inhabited the Yellowstone area for more than 11,000 years, with associated tribes including the Kiowa, Coeur d'Alene, Shoshone, and Nez Perce.

It's also thought that some of the park's modern-day hiking trails stem from Indigenous routes. This photo of a Shoshone camp was taken in 1871.

By the 1860s, interest in the Yellowstone area's abundant natural wonders was growing and a series of organized expeditions went out to explore the land. The first was the Folsom-Cook-Peterson Expedition of 1869 and the next was led by Henry D Washburn, surveyor-general of Montana, in 1870.

Washburn and his team created detailed maps of the area, as well as sketches of now-famous features, like this one depicting Castle Geyser. 

The most famous and comprehensive of these surveys was the 1871 Hayden Expedition, spearheaded by respected geologist Ferdinand V Hayden. He struck out with a team of scientists (from botanists to zoologists), who set about mapping, sketching, and reporting on a treasure-filled world, which was already the domain of trappers and Indigenous tribes.

His pack train is pictured here in the Mirror Lake area in 1871. 

Among Hayden's team was William Henry Jackson, an American photographer who's become known as the first to capture the park on camera. His stirring photographs went some way to convincing officials to establish the national park. He's snapped here on a mountaintop surrounded by his equipment. 

Jackson's Yellowstone portfolio included this breathtaking shot of Lower Falls, taken in 1871. He also captured the thundering Upper Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs, and Mary Bay on Yellowstone Lake, among other highlights. 

Another survey led by Hayden took place in 1872 – the team is pictured here in Firehole Basin. The United States Congress were in awe of the materials captured by these explorers, from detailed reports to breathtaking photography and artworks.

President Ulysses S Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act on March 1, 1872, and Yellowstone became the USA's first national park. 

The Yellowstone National Park Protection Act prohibited development in the designated area, safeguarding the site "as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." This photo dating to 1883 shows park visitors gazing up in awe as the Old Faithful geyser puts on a show.

In Yellowstone's early decades, it was administered and safeguarded by the US army, who kept this role until 1918. The entrance to the park is photographed here in 1897.

Though visitor numbers were fairly low in the park's early days, those adventurous travelers needed somewhere to stay. Old Faithful Inn was designed by architect Robert C Reamer and built between 1903 and 1904. Snapped here circa 1904, it's still renowned for its inviting lobby with a mammoth stone fireplace. 

In the park's earliest decades, private automobiles were prohibited. Instead, tourists explored the park in their own horse-drawn wagons or on stagecoach tours led by guides. Here a group of travelers and guides picnic beside their vehicle, in a clearing at the edge of a forest. 

Early guides got to the heart of Yellowstone's sprawling wilderness. Here, the park's epic scenery unfolds before a stagecoach in a photograph from 1905. In the background is Jupiter Terrace in the Mammoth Hot Springs area.

Since vehicles were prohibited in Yellowstone (and during this time, still the domain of society's wealthiest), most travelers would arrive by rail, ready to be picked up for their stagecoach tour. This is Gardner Station, which was served by the Northern Pacific Railway, and acted as a gateway to the park. 

Yellowstone is home to the USA's oldest free-roaming bison herd and these hulking creatures have been a draw of the park from the beginning. However, bison were aggressively hunted through the 19th century and their population dwindled dramatically.

In an early conservation effort, in 1902, privately owned bison were raised and eventually released into the park's existing herd. Numbers grew into the thousands once more, and today hunting is prohibited in Yellowstone National Park. 

From 1915, private automobiles were finally allowed within the park. Roads were graded ready for a steady stream of vehicles, and according to NPS, some 3,445 cars entered Yellowstone between June 15 and September 30, 1916. Now, thousands of modern vehicles typically enter the park every day. 

A major milestone came in 1916 with the birth of the National Park Service. The Act was signed by 28th president Woodrow Wilson and created a new federal organization dedicated to preserving the then 35 established national parks and monuments. The Act would cement the future of marvels like this one: Old Faithful geyser, pictured here circa 1916.

Car production boomed through the Roaring Twenties and a rapidly increasing number of American households owned vehicles. That meant that wide-open wildernesses like Yellowstone National Park were ripe for exploration. Here, in 1920, early campers make the most of a tent attached to their car, in Yellowstone's Mammoth Hot Springs area. 

Come winter, though, getting around on wheels often wasn't an option. Though the region's bigger ski resorts wouldn't open until a little later, cross-country skiers would strike out into Yellowstone's snowy plains in the late 19th century and early 1900s. This group of winter adventurers are leaving from a snow-blanketed cabin in early 1920. 

Yellowstone's geothermal wonders were, and still are, a major draw of the park. There are more than 10,000 thermal features enveloped within the site today, from belching mud pots and hot springs to geysers shooting water as high as 300 feet – that record belongs to Steamboat Geyser.

Here, visitors from 1920 look on in awe as they explore one of Yellowstone's steaming geyser basins.

In 1922, Yellowstone National Park celebrated its 50th birthday. Officials and nature-lovers gathered in the park, at the site where the early Washburn Expedition set up camp near the junction of the Firehole and Gibbon Rivers. Superintendent Horace M Albright led the festivities. 

The park soon started attracting a star-spangled list of travelers too. Here, circa 1926, Western movie star Tom Mix is papped in Yellowstone National Park, after filming on location in the Jackson Hole area. 

Back in the 1930s, safety protocols were significantly more lax than they are today. Nowadays, wooden boardwalks typically mark safe routes around Yellowstone's sizzling geothermal sites. But in this photo from 1930, you can see tourists standing moments from Old Faithful as it dramatically erupts. More cautious spectators sit on a fallen tree trunk behind them. 

Road improvements continued in Yellowstone through the 1930s – but not everyone favored four wheels. This romantic image shows a pair of horse riders deep within the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, circa 1935. 

World War II took its toll on Yellowstone. Visitor numbers plummeted, improvement works and infrastructure projects stopped in their tracks, and resources dwindled as they were pumped into the war effort. Happily, though, the park was still able to serve its main purpose: to protect precious natural wonders for posterity. 

Still, though, Yellowstone bounced back after the war and in 1948 visitor numbers hit the one million mark for the first time in history. This charming photograph was taken a few years later, in 1955. A young family gathers at a viewpoint overlooking Tower Fall, a soaring cascade that plunges down for about 132 feet.

Visitation soared through the 1950s and the National Park Service launched Mission 66. The project aimed to rebuild a park system devastated by war, and a whole decade was spent sprucing up facilities and expanding services available to visitors across all national parks, including Yellowstone.

A lone woman admires the rugged landscape in this photograph from 1955, when Mission 66 was launched.

Bear safety at Yellowstone was taken much less seriously in earlier decades too. In fact, it was common for motorists to wind down their windows as bears approached or even hop out of their cars and attempt to feed the creatures. 

Open-pit garbage dumps, which existed in Yellowstone right up until the 1970s, attracted bears and reckless tourists, uneducated in bear safety, would exit their vehicles to snap the perfect shot. It's estimated by the NPS that, up to 1960, there were around 48 bear-inflicted human injuries each year at the park.

To ease the situation, a comprehensive bear management program was implemented at Yellowstone in 1960. This involved educating visitors on bear safety, including food storage, and prohibiting the feeding of bears in the park.

Open-pit garbage dumps were also eventually removed in 1970. This photo of a bear cub investigating a Greyhound bus was taken in 1965. 

By the 1960s, accommodation options in the park were varied, and a favored spot was Lake Yellowstone Hotel (pictured). It's one of the oldest national park hotels in the USA, opened back in 1891, and predates the formation of the National Park Service itself.

It's captured here in 1965, arranged along the edge of the water, which is busy with recreational boats. Today, it's a National Historic Landmark with a slew of deluxe lake-view rooms. 

Yellowstone's original Fishing Bridge was built as early as 1902, though the current structure dates to 1937. During the first half of the 20th century, it was the park's star spot for trout fishing – however, dwindling populations meant that fishing was banned here in 1973.

Visitors are pictured here enjoying the bridge in 1975, and its sweeping views over Yellowstone Lake still draw the crowds today.

The summer of 1988 was devastating for Yellowstone. In June 1988, lightning started a series of fires across the park and, in keeping with the management plan at the time, they were allowed to blaze. Eventually, some 36% of the park – that's 793,880 acres – was swallowed by fire, and more than 300 large mammals died.

The park managers eschewed the plan and began fighting the fires in an effort that would cost around $120 million. The devastating event has informed national park fire management programs across the country. 

The Nineties was a landmark decade for Yellowstone wildlife. Wolves were hunted into near oblivion throughout the 20th century, but in this decade experts sought to reverse this. From 1995 through to 1996, 31 gray wolves from Canada were reintroduced to the park.

Numbers of these enigmatic predators grew and by 2011, wolves were removed from the endangered species list in Idaho and Montana (though there are now calls to relist them).

The Noughties brought some good news stories for the park's wildlife too. In 2007, Yellowstone's grizzly bear population was removed from the threatened species list.

Habit loss and accidents involving humans had caused their numbers to plunge, but careful management programs allowed populations to grow once more. In this image, a hulking grizzly bear is seen lumbering along a road near the East Entrance in 2005. 

In 2016 – the year this breathtaking aerial shot of Yellowstone's Norris Geyser Basin was taken – the National Park Service celebrated its 100th birthday. Events marked the occasion up and down the country, including in Yellowstone, the oldest park in the system.

Here, the landmark Roosevelt Arch was rededicated and the NPS Centennial Yellowstone Junior Ranger Program was a hit with kids. 

The beloved national park marked its 150th birthday in 2022. It celebrated with a slew of events and openings, including the Yellowstone Tribal Heritage Center, a hub for Indigenous artists and educators. There was also a display of historic park vehicles and a range of park-wide improvement projects.

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