Every year thousands of tourists are awed by the grandeur of America’s national parks without thinking of how they came into existence. Although there are hundreds of people responsible for their creation, one woman stands out, MARY BELLE KING SHERMAN. Her devotion to creating the National Park Service earned her the moniker “National Park Lady.”
Born in 1862, Mary’s life followed the traditional path of marriage and family until her mother-in-law brought her into the orbit of women’s clubs. (NOTE: clubs in this time were segregated and class-dependent) Mary quickly moved from her local chapter to the national chapter. It was with this group, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC), that the trajectory of Mary’s life changed.
While hosting a parliamentary-law study group in her home, Mary discovered her passion: parliamentary law. In 1901 she wrote Parliamentary Law at a Glance: A Guide for Club Women and Students and became an instructor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago as well as the parliamentarian for the state chapter. By 1908 she was vice-president of the GFWC. It was in this capacity she toured women’s clubs in the Panama Canal Zone.
Touring the Panama Canal Zone, Mary contracted a disease so debilitating she was forced to recuperate at the family’s vacation home in Estes Park, Colorado. Her time here solidified her commitment to conservation. By 1914, she was chair of the GRWC and used her position to lobby for the formation of the National Park Service (NPS).
By 1916, Mary had leveraged her position with women’s clubs to raise money not only for the formation of the NPS, but specifically for the park we now know as the Grand Canyon and five parks within the Rocky Mountain National Park system.
For the remainder of her life, Mary advocated for time spent outside. She began nature programs at elementary schools and publicly stated that time spent outdoors in fresh air was good for children’s health. In addition to her local work, she became president of the GFWC, was appointed vice-president of the American Forestry Association, and made a trustee of the National Park Service. She was a force of nature. (Pun intended)
“…every community should have a place in which the people may spend their leisure time, where they will be brought in direct contact with things of beauty and interest in the outdoor world.”
~ Mary Belle King Sherman, National Park Conference, March 13, 1915
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