Which character from a children's book was once featured in advertisements for Yellowstone National Park?

Before becoming the country’s first National Park, Yellowstone had a different name: Wonderland. The 2.2 million-acre area stretching across Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho featured sights so unbelievable that it was initially described as a “land of curiosities.” Home to geysers, hot springs, and waterfalls, “Wonderland” piqued the curiosity of Americans who had never before witnessed such natural wonders.

Early paintings and photographs of erupting geysers and mountain topography convinced Congress to protect the area from logging, mining, and other disruption. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act in 1872, formally naming the area for a nearby river and creating the country’s first national park.

In the years prior to the park’s creation, the race for a transcontinental railroad brought visitors to the region, but by the early 1880s railroads needed to boost ticket sales. The Northern Pacific Railroad created an ad campaign using the park’s former name. Brochure-style ads featured a “grown-up” Alice traveling by rail from Chicago to the real-life wonderland, describing her adventures along the Northern Pacific Railroad’s “Wonderland Route.”

While railroads did help more Americans experience the beauty of Yellowstone, it was the automobile that ultimately made the park more accessible. The National Park Service noted that Yellowstone’s first spike in visitors occurred in 1915, the same year cars were permitted inside the park.