MOOSE, Wyo. — The stretch of land between Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park—John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway—was created by Congress on Aug. 22, 1972.
Congress named the highway to honor John D. Rockefeller, Jr, who contributed thousands of acres of land to the National Park Service.
The Memorial Parkway consists of 24,000 acres and borders Caribou-Targhee National Forest on the west and Bridger-Teton National Forest and Teton Wilderness on the east. Yellowstone is to the north and GTNP is to the south. Originally the area was part of the Teton Wilderness but it was transferred to the National Park Service to “assure an unbroken connection between Grand Teton and Yellowstone.”
The Rockefeller Family is known for its expansive wealth from oil and banking, along with their political and philanthropic influence. The Rockefeller brothers, John D. and William A. created the Standard Oil company.
John D. Rockefeller Jr. was involved in vast real estate development, including the development of Midtown Manhattan and Rockefeller Center. He had a large role in the industrialization of the United States and had political influence during the prohibition era, something he supported.
He created the Snake River Land Company (Snake River Cattle and Stock Company) in 1927 to purchase about 35,000 acres of land in Jackson Hole. The company was used as a front to purchase the land so ranchers would not know his intentions to transfer it to the National Park Service.
Ranchers were against the purchase and fought it for over 15 years but pressure during the Great Depression alleviated the opposition and the land was eventually turned into a national monument and then Grand Teton National Park.
