This vintage postcard shows the majestic Grand Teton mountains in the background, towering above the verdant valley floor. We see a rustic log cabin amongst the trees with Western folk lounging oustside conversing with two cowboys on horseback. This is vintage Western Wyoming at its best!
The Grand Tetons are a mountain range in Western Wyoming and are also part of the Grand Teton National Park. Although the nearby Yellowstone National Park, the first national park in the United States, was adopted immediately and opened in 1872, The Grand Teton National Park took over 50 years to be completed. This was due to the independence of the people living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming who did not want what they felt was overwhelming government interference in their property, lives, and community. So, they fought the installation of a national park in that area.
However, over the 50 year battle, ideas and perceptions changed and the local people came to understand the benefits of the tourism into their community as well as the importance of protecting the natural resources, wildlife, and landscape of the Grand Teton range.
Congress set aside the Grand Teton and range along with some glacial lakes in 1929 as the national park area. In 1943, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, by presidential decree, combined the Jackson Hole National Monument, the Grand Teton National Forest lands, other federal acres, Jackson Lake and 35,000 acres donated by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. into what is today known as The Grand Teton National Forest. In 1950, by act of Congress, the boundaries of the park were defined as the original 1929 lands along with this expansion from 1943.
The mountain range is most probably named after the Teton Sioux tribe which live in the area, but the origin of its name is debated. Early maps from the 1800s show that as the name of the range.
Vintage American designers have enhanced the coloring in this image to create the vintage, Western Wyoming products shown below.