Mount Rushmore National MemorialMount Rushmore National Memorial
Located 23 miles southwest of Rapid City, South Dakota
The mountain itself was originally named after Charles E. Rushmore,
a New York lawyer investigating mining claims in the Black Hills
in 1885.
Mount Rushmore features the heads of 4 United States presidents:
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and
Theodore Roosevelt carved into a granite bluff.
The massive sculpture was carved into the rim of Mount Rushmore
500 ft above the valley floor. Each face is about 60 ft tall.
The memorial cost nearly $1 million to create.
The idea for creating the sculpture in the Black Hills came
from South Dakota historian Doane Robinson in the early 1920s.
American sculptor Gutzon Borglum designed the memorial and
supervised its construction. Borglum envisioned a monument
to the growth of the United States and its most important
leaders and chose Mount Rushmore as the site. Borglum's
original design was a sculpture of the four presidents
down to their waists.
Gutzon Borglum
Construction of the memorial began August 10, 1927.
President Calvin Coolidge attended the dedication that day.
Funding was provided by private donations and the Federal
Government.
President Calvin Coolidge dedicated the memorial in 1927,
commencing 14 years of work; only 6 1/2 years were spent on
actual carving. Money was the main problem in the
Great Depression years
The Washington head was formally dedicated in 1930, followed
by Jefferson in 1936, Lincoln in 1937 and Roosevelt in 1939.
Borglum died in March 1941; the final dedication was not
held until 50 years later. Son, Lincoln Borglum supervised
the completion of the heads. Carving stopped in October 1941,
on the eve of our entry into World War II.
Mount Rushmore is Administered by the National Park Service,
with an area of 1278 acres. Each year, Mount Rushmore attracts
more than 2.7 million visitors.
The granite faces of the four American presidents is scaled
to men who would stand 465 feet tall!
George Washington, first U.S. President and commander of
the Revolutionary army Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President,
author of the Declaration of Independence, and
advocate of westward expansion President Abraham Lincoln,
16th President whose leadership restored the Union and
ended slavery on U.S. soil. President Theodore Roosevelt,
26th President who promoted construction of the Panama
Canal and ignited progressive causes such as conservation
and business reform.
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