On October 30, 1916, only one month after the National Park Service itself was established (August 25, 1916), Stephen Mather, the Service's first Director, (shown at the far left in the adjacent photo leading a tour of park advocates in the dunes in 1916) held hearings in Chicago to gauge public sentiment on a 'Sand Dunes National Park'. Four hundred people attended and 42 people, including Henry Cowles, spoke in favor of the park proposal; there were no opponents.