History

Long before it became an iconic American symbol, Mount Rushmore was a natural rock face in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

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History Details

Long before it became an iconic American symbol, Mount Rushmore was a natural rock face in the Black Hills of South Dakota, which became a part of the United States in 1889 but had long been sacred ground to local Native American tribes. Mount Rushmore was named Rushmore Peak for Charles Rushmore, an attorney from New York City who secured mining options in the area in the 1880s. In the 1920s, South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson had an audacious idea intended to lure more tourists to the area: carving the images of heroes of the American West (e.g. Red Cloud, Lewis and Clark, Buffalo Bill) into the granite of the Black Hills. In August 1924, Robinson invited sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who was working on Georgia's Stone Mountain, to visit and discuss his vision. It was during a second visit in 1925 when Borglum discovered Mount Rushmore and its 400-foot-high, 500-foot-wide wall that "would serve as the perfect carving block" -- not for the images of Western icons, but for American presidents. In 1927, President Calvin Coolidge officially dedicated the project; an informal dedication took place in 1925, when legislation was passed by Congress authorizing the carving and establishing the purpose for Mount Rushmore State Park: "The establishment of a memorial commemorative of our national history and progress." In 1933, Mount Rushmore was placed under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service under executive order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Each year, nearly 3 million people visit Mount Rushmore, outside of the town of Keystone, S.D. Since its inception in 1927, the "Shrine of Democracy" has grown to become a symbol of American freedom and hope for people of all cultures and backgrounds. Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers carved the sculpture over the course of 14 years, at a cost of $989,992. Drilling began Oct. 4, 1927 and ended Oct. 31, 1941, and more than 90 percent of Mount Rushmore was carved using dynamite. When Gutzon Borglum passed away in 1941, his son Lincoln Borglum took over as sculptor; he had worked alongside his father since the project's inception. Gutzon Borglum's intention was for visitors to see the memorial in the morning light, when the sculpture is lit in a orange glow. "The purpose of the memorial is to communicate the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States with colossal statues of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt ... This is the work that I love most, this intimate contact with the four men. As I become engrossed in the features and personality of each man, I feel myself growing in stature, just as they did when their characters grew and developed." *- Gutzon Borgum*

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