Pre 1900's - 1920's | 1930's |1940's |1950's |1960's | 1970's |1980's |1990's | 2000's

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In 1940, the year that the park was dedicated the park played host to not only President Roosevelt on September 2, but it also saw almost million visitors throughout the year. Although that may not seem like many compared to our 9 million visitors a year that we get now, at the time it was more than any other national park in the country. The recent construction completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps throughout the park was serving this public well.

But, just over a year after the official dedication, the boys of the CCC were taken out of their homes in the Smokies in the name of protecting our country, leaving some projects incomplete. WWII also changed the amount of visitors to the park and the staffing capability of the NPS.

The funding and workforce crunch caused by the war years had lasting effects on parks all over the country, where the stress of under use and substandard maintenance capabilities caused buildings roadways and trails to deteriorate quickly. Unfortunately, even when the US withdrew from the war this problem was not immediately alleviated.

Postwar, National Parks still faced budget and manpower shortages, but unlike the war years the public visiting the National Parks was growing by leaps and bounds. By 1955 the Smokies was serving 2.5 million visitors per year with no true visitor centers, substandard roadways, and only 2 developed campgrounds. These conditions would quickly change.

In 1956, a program began that would change the status of deteriorating parks service-wide. Mission 66, approved by President Eisenhower, not only provided behind the scenes support such as staff housing and physical plants, it also created and rehabilitated structures and roadways all over the park.

Some of the most notable Mission 66 projects in the Smokies include; the Clingmans Dome Tower, the Gatlinburg Bypass and Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, campgrounds at Elkmont, Deep Creek, Cades Cove, Big Creek and Cosby as well as Sugarlands Visitor Center. With these projects Mission 66 and the National Park Service sought to make the experiences of the visitors better by making things more accessible and also by spreading out visitation to widespread areas within the same park so that more people could enjoy the same park, without it really feeling busy.