The Next National Park Site
On December 29 of last year the 424th national park site was established with the authorization of New Philadelphia National Historic Site in Illinois. It was the first national park site established during the Biden administration, but there are typically multiple sites established during any given administration. With many more sites on the horizon here are the top 5 contenders to be national park site number 425:
Blackwell School National Historic Site
Blackwell School National Historic Site is actually already authorized since the fall of last year on the condition that enough property for a park site at the location could be acquired by the National Park Service. This could take anywhere from a few months to a few years so it’s unknown when this land would be acquired, but all of the law work that needs to be done to establish a park is already completed. The site would preserve a school that segregated hispanic students from the white population in Texas.
2. Amache National Historic Site
Amache is in a similar position to Blackwell School having already been authorized by Congress and the White House contingent on the appropriate land being acquired by the National Park Service. The authorization came with more specifics than the one for Blackwell School as we were told that the land acquisition process would take over a year. That means this site won’t become official until sometime after March 2023. The site would preserve the Granada Relocation Center in Colorado where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II over fears that they would assist the Japanese war effort.
3. Global War on Terrorism Memorial
There are numerous Washington D.C. memorials that are in the process of becoming official National Park Service units including the Global War on Terrorism Memorial, Desert Storm/Desert Shield Memorial and Adams Memorial. All of them can only become official park sites after they are built. The Global War on Terrorism Memorial seems to be one that gets the most attention, and, therefore, will most likely be the first one completed. It had multiple congressional hearings during the last Congress so it has been in the news over the past couple of years. The memorial will honor veterans of the Global War on Terrorism as well as provide context about the war’s role in American history.
4. Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Historical Park
Here is where we get to the longshot portion of the list. The first three are all units that are already authorized contingent on certain criteria being met. Presently, there are no bills in the current congress authorizing the creation of a new national park site, but it is early in this congressional term. One of the biggest special interest groups that supports the National Park Service is the National Park Conservation Association, and they have spent a lot of energy on trying to get a bill establishing a national park site centered around Emmett Till through Congress. Emmett Till was an African-American teenager who was tortured and lynched in Missisippi after he allegedly whistled at a white woman.
5. Civil War Defenses of Washington National Historical Park
A bill authorizing this park was sent to Congress during the last session and went pretty much nowhere, which is why it’s on the longshot portion of this list. However, a lot of the property that would compose this park is already in the National Park Service including Fort Greble and Fort Foote Park. If the park were ever to be passed through Congress it wouldn’t face the same land acquisition issues that some of the top potential parks on this list are going through and could instantly become a new park. The site would preserve the many Civil War forts that once existed in our nation’s capital.
