By the 1920s, Torrey residents Ephraim Portman Pectol and his brother-in-law, Joseph S. Hickman, organized a local advocacy group to promote "Wayne Wonderland." The name, Wayne Wonderland, was inspired by the colorful and impressive landscape around what is now Capitol Reef National Park. The group was dedicated to the preservation as well as the promotion of Wayne County’s unique landscape and appeal. The group raised U.S. $150 (equivalent to $2,963 in 2019) to interest a Salt Lake City photographer in taking a series of promotional photographs of the area. For several years, the photographer, J. E. Broaddus, traveled and lectured on "Wayne Wonderland.”

Hickman eventually was elected to the Utah state legislature and went on to designate 16 acres of land around the community of Fruita as a state park in 1925. Sadly, Hickman drowned shortly thereafter, and momentum was lost for protecting the red rocks and capitol domes along the Fremont River.

By the 1930s, interest was again growing to form a park, and in 1937, Capitol Reef National Monument was established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The first superintendent, Charles Kelly, wasn't paid (at first) for his years of dedication, preserving and protecting the small monument. People still lived in the community of Fruita, and few outsiders visited due to rough roads and the remote location.