May 1995: The National Park Service Goes Online at nps.gov

The 1995 press release announcing nps.gov on the "Internet-World Wide Web." NPS.

In 1995 the National Park Service launched its website, nps.gov. A press release from May 10, 1995, recovered from the archives, captures the moment.

The announcement

Director Roger Kennedy announced that the Park Service would go online on May 22, the first day of National Park Week. "The World Wide Web is a major research tool with endless educational applications and possibilities," he said, and the Park Service welcomed the chance to join "this type of universal database of knowledge."

The release explained the new technology: the Web was a multimedia — audio, graphic and text — system running over the Internet, reached through browsers such as Mosaic or Netscape "with the touch of a mouse button." The site would offer:

• the Park Service's mission and history, and issues in natural and cultural resources;
• information on specific parks, the National Trails System and the more than 60,000 properties on the National Register of Historic Places;
• eventually a "home page" for each park, with visitor information and topics to research.

The NPS App joined on April 16, 2021.

ParkNet

The ParkNet home page, April 18, 1997. NPS.

In its early days the site, called ParkNet, offered a Visit Your Parks button and:

• a feature on the history of the Park Service;
• Links to the Past — America's histories and cultures;
• Park Smart — education and interpretation;
• Info Zone — servicewide information;
• Nature Net — natural resources in parks;
• a Park Store and search.

Visitors might have dialed in through Prodigy and browsed with the new Netscape.

Sources

Based on "The National Park Service Joins the Internet in 1995," National Park Service, written in 2022; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The 1995 press release is quoted from that page; its staff contact details are left out.