diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bf13092..7fd9b84 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 - Internal Changes
   - LICENSE
     - Updated for 2016.
+  - `NistBeacon`
+    - `get_first_record` now defaults to downloading the first record.
   - `NistBeaconCrypto`
     - Now computes the `struct` and other values for the `SHA512Hash`.
   - `NistBeaconValue`
diff --git a/nistbeacon/nistbeacon.py b/nistbeacon/nistbeacon.py
index d4ee115..2917fec 100644
--- a/nistbeacon/nistbeacon.py
+++ b/nistbeacon/nistbeacon.py
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ def chain_check(cls, timestamp: int) -> bool:
     @classmethod
     def get_first_record(
             cls,
-            download: bool=False
+            download: bool=True
     ) -> NistBeaconValue:
         """
         Get the first (oldest) record available. Since the first record