National Park Quarters Obverse
When the National Park Quarters series was first proposed, much of the focus was on the reverse designs of the coins. Under the proposal, a series of 56 different reverse designs would be released over an 11 year period. Each design would honor a National Park or other National Site located in each U.S. State, U.S. Territory, and the District of Columbia. But what obverse design would be used?
The proposed bill H.R. 6184 America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008 makes no specific mention of the obverse design for the new series. Some have assumed that the same image of George Washington used on the 50 State Quarters series would be used for the National Park Quarter series.
At least one representative had a different idea about who should grace the obverse of the new quarter series. Rep. Peter King of New York recommended that Theodore Roosevelt replace the image of George Washington. In his words, Teddy Roosevelt was “the first great champion of the country’s National Parks.”
During his presidency, Roosevelt set aside more land for national parks and nature preserves than all previous presidents combined. In all, he set aside 194 million acres of land for national forests, national wildlife refuges, and special interest areas. Notably, Teddy Roosevelt is also the only one of the four Presidents honored on Mount Rushmore, who does not appear on a circulating US coin or bill.
Theodore Roosevelt did appear on the obverse of the National Wildlife Refuge System Centennial Medal Series released in 2003. Four different medals were released featuring the Bald Eagle, Elk, Canvasback Duck, and Salmon on the reverse of the medal with Theodore Roosevelt on a common obverse design. The obverse of the bronze medal is shown above.
H.R. 6184 does contain information on the quarter design following the completion of the National Park Quarter series. The obverse would revert to the design featuring the image of George Washington used prior to the 50 State Quarters Program. The reverse design would contain an image of Washington crossing the Delaware. This theme was used for the 1999 New Jersey Sate Quarter.