History of the National Park Service reduce poaching and other misuse of the park, the U.S. Army established a fort in the area in 1881 and began park protection, establishing a pattern that would be continued by later park rangers. In 1875, Mackinac National Park was created on a resort island in Lake Huron in Michigan, the second national park. As at Yellowstone, the army garrison at Fort Mackinac were in charge of supervising and improving the park. The fort and the national park were turned over to state control in 1895. U.S. cavalry units took up a position in California-controlled Yosemite Park in 1891 and
History of the Yosemite area C. Bryant and Loye Holmes Miller in 1920. Ansel F. Hall became the first park naturalist in 1921 and served in that role for two years. Hall's idea to have park museums act as public contact centers for interpretive programs became a model followed by other national parks in the United States and internationally. Yosemite Museum, the first permanent museum in the National Park System, was completed in 1926. The Ahwahnee Hotel, in Yosemite Valley, is a National Historic Landmark. Built in 1927, it is a luxury hotel designed by the architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, decorated in Native American motifs.