Two hundred years ago today, the General Land Office (GLO) opened its doors for business. Today that “land office business” continues at the Bureau of Land Management-Eastern States office, which will commemorate the occasion with events scheduled throughout the year.

In 1812, a young American nation faced the challenge of transforming wilderness to agricultural use and acquiring the revenue to pay its war debts. The GLO was established to handle the business associated with the sale of public lands for private ownership, transforming wilderness to agricultural use, and generating income for the Federal government. The GLO, in fact, became the “Gateway to Land Ownership” for millions of Americans. As the successor agency to the original GLO, the BLM, a bureau of the Department of the Interior, was established in 1946 with the merger of the Grazing Service and the GLO. 

Learn more about the history of the GLO and BLM here.

Photo: Bureau of Land Management