Why It Took 10 Years for Michigan’s Isle Royale to Become a National Park

The first concept of making Michigan's Isle Royale, the largest island in Lake Superior, into a national park came in 1931 by it wasn't until 1940 that the park was created.

It was in March 1931 that Congress authorized Isle Royale to become a national park. President at the time was Herbert Hoover and he signed the bill into law. But that act was not a federal magic wand. There was much to do before Isle Royale could make its public debut. The first obstacle was actually owning the land.

Isle Royale, many Michiganders don't realize, was once a separate county with two townships - Rock Harbor Township and Island Township - and a county seat at the now-ghost town of Island Mine.

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The Isle Royale National Park Commission was created by the state of Michigan with the purpose of purchasing parcels of land on the island that were held privately whether by homesteaders or logging and mining interests. The national government, using Depression-era 'Emergency Funds,' began scooping up island land.

At the last census before Isle Royale County was dissolved into Keweenaw County there were 57 residents on the island.

While the land was being acquired, the Civilian Conservation Corps was at work creating infrastructure for the park. Further delaying parkhood, there was a fire during the hot, dry summer of 1936. The blaze burned 27,000 acres, roughly 20% of the island, and was considered to have the most "profound effect on the natural and human history of Isle Royale than any other single historical event."

In 1939, a year before the park officially opened, the state passed Act 8 which ceded

jurisdiction over the Isle Royale National Park including any submerged lands within four and one-half miles of the shore line of Isle Royale and immediately surrounding islands to the United States, to convey title to the submerged lands to the United States, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act.

After a decade Isle Royale was finally ready to make it official. The national park was officially established by April 3, 1940 by president Franklin Roosevelt 3319 days after it was originally authorized.