Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Carved into the Black Hills of South Dakota are the iconic faces of four former presidents of the United States--George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. These men were chosen to represent the first 150 years of American history and America’s cultural heritage.

The idea came from Doane Robinson to promote tourism in South Dakota and his idea was wildly successful--the park attracts almost 3 million park visitors every year. Gutzon Borglum designed the sculpture. Though he passed away before its completion, over 400 workers helped bring his vision to life.

Today visitors come to appreciate this colossal man-made creation, learn about the design and construction process, appreciate its significance as a symbol of the American history of “monumental” leaders, and to learn about the natural and cultural history of the Black Hills region.

—Caroline Griffith

If You Go

Not everyone was pleased with the decision to carve four American presidents on a mountain that held spiritual significance for the Lakota tribe. In response, a memorial to Crazy Horse is being carved in the Black Hills 17 miles away from Mount Rushmore. Once completed the Crazy Horse Memorial will be the largest outdoor sculpture in the world. Visitors who get an early start can see both of these incredible sculptures in one day.

moru.jpg

State:

South Dakota

Acreage:

1,278.45

Category:

National Memorial

Established:

03/03/1925

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WHAT DO YOU THINK?

MrB

May 5, 2013

See you this summer. Looking forward to taking some good pictures. Love this kind of history.

DjSlice

May 5, 2013

@ Skeeter... This land was owned by native Indians always, so it was theirs to begin with...

pammy

May 1, 2013

I think they did a beautiful job on everything involved,my father was Joe Alexander,and Cookie Dede my mother.They passed away before I was a teen.But i do know one true fact,they played beautifully together.Oh how i miss and love them.Pamela

Skeeter

April 3, 2013

Although I intend to help protect every National Park, Mt. Rushmore was in fact stolen from the Native American Indians of the area. Last I heard there was 4 Billion Dollars (interst has compounded) in an account meant to pay these Natives for this Mountain they carved our leaders in. The Tribe will not take the $$. So Sad and Wrong

wild boy

March 26, 2013

awesome i love the veiw! great history

jaketiger23

March 26, 2013

still havent been, going this summer

tiger289

March 4, 2013

it was ok i have been better places

Lefty

March 3, 2013

After seeing a bit on Mt. Rushmore, I wasn't too surprised to figure as to WHEN it was made. Only thing is, I thought it was made during the Great Depression (but found out it was made, I believe, during the roaring '20s).

banana

February 8, 2013

I went there when I was like 4 so I don't remember very much but it sounds cool.

der da der

January 29, 2013

1941 is the year it was finished being built

Sandi

January 25, 2013

We love Mt. Rushmore and have been many times. Last time, this past summer was the latest. I bought a sweatshirt of MT Rushmore on it and it had the number 41 on it also. What does the # 41 mean??

toobad

December 31, 2012

This is an amazing engineering feat to have carved this out of the mountains. Worth seeing if you can stomach the fact that at some point in the past a private concern somehow swung a deal to hold the monument hostage to an $11 parking fee. Walk in is free. Right! 4 miles uphill from Keystone. Otherwise, no pay, no access to the monument or the visitor center. No Natl. park passes of any kind are honored.

rockcarver

December 7, 2012

To the persons upset by the parking fees....The National Park Service realized that the old facility was designed to host a couple hundred thousand visitors a year but was trying to accomodate about a million. Funding was raised to upgrade the actual visitor facilities (the sewage treatment plant is serious state of the art) but the Feds wouldn't or couldn't come up with funding for improved parking. A number of investors stepped forward and raised money to cover the amazing parking facility so that you wouldn't have to walk 3 miles uphill from Keystone to see the monument. The parking fees are there to retire that debt. If you get there early in the day, visit the museum, hike the trails, listen to the incredible Park Interpretors talks, then it is worth every penny and then some. But if you have the attention span of a mayfly and are just stopping to snap a quick pic and run, don't waste your time. Justdownload a photo from the internet and photoshop yourself into it.

twomags

December 2, 2012

I am researching the monument for a children book of geography that my wife and I are entertaining. We hope to visit soon.

Luke

November 26, 2012

Very nice place to visit. Nice facts also.

Mike

November 20, 2012

I love Mt Rushmore as my family did the work on it and are proud of it. When ever I go home to keystone the first thing I do is go to the mountain awesome every time I see it

Incognito

November 19, 2012

Absolutely astonishing fellow artist and i love it no matter what I wish we would have finished horseman though bc we did owe it to the indians that were already living there

Roadtripmaster

November 18, 2012

Comparing Mount Rushmore with Crazy Horse is a joke. I have to tell you, this is my opinion ok, Crazy Horse will NEVER be finished, it is a money making monster just the way it is, why spend the money to finish it? It is a joke, a con and I couldn't get out of there fast enough. They charged a fee to park, the thing is miles away from the "visitor center" and it cost money to get any closer. Then another fee they are more than happy to take (over a hundred bucks as I remember) to go up on it for a special tour. Mount Rushmore was FINISHED in about 12 years as I remember, I understand Crazy Horse monument is a lot bigger, but next to nothing has been done to it in years. It is moving at a snails pace because they have the "visitors center" that is about 40k square feet of "souvenirs" . It's a super market of souvenirs, why finish the monument, that store is FULL every day with people buying things, the place is a scam. I am behind the thought of it, ok, that is all well and good to honor the Native American. But that place is a SCAM and like I said, I felt like I needed to take a shower after leaving there it was so smarmy it make me gag. It is most certainly not a "honor" to the Native American, it is an embarrassment.

Newsdog

October 31, 2012

As a Vietnam Veteran, I chose to do "my duty" even though I didn't agree with our cause/commitment in this undeclared war. While our country is far from perfect, and sometimes slow to correct wrongs, I will stand proudly at the base of Mt. Rushmore when my wife & I visit (for the 1st time)sometime next year. I will be proud to stand and marvel at the long overdue Crazy Horse monument under construction. To those of you who can only complain about symbols of our heritage - you disgust me. Especially, bringing up something about the sculptor being a member of the KKK. While it is an ignorant organization, that can only use fear, not logic to intimidate, it's irrelevant. With that logic, you're are a hippocrite if you drive a Volkswagon (peoples car), since Adolf Hitler directed its creation. America is like a big family in my mind, and I don't know about your family, but there's a wingnut or or two in my family tree that I'm not to proud of, but I still love my family.

Christine

October 28, 2012

Can't wait to see both monuments. Planning the trip soon love this.

Jd2K

October 19, 2012

My dad and I are gonna go visit the memorial this weekend. We're from Louisiana so this is an on opportunity of a lifetime for us and lucky we got the chance to come up north and work at the Sinclair refinery in Rawlins, Wyoming.

BUZZ

October 19, 2012

THIS IS COOL

BUZZ

October 17, 2012

This the best place to go to!!!!! I mean it go check out Mount Rushmore today!!!!! GO THEREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

hridd

October 15, 2012

I am going there tomorrow so i hope it will be good thank you

Anonymous

October 12, 2012

Why isn't the full truth told during the tours? Gutzon Borglum was pretty much apart of the KKK! And how the government killed Sioux tribe women and children, this is outrageous! There is more too!

crazylegs

October 8, 2012

I think the sculptures are the greatest I have ever seen!

walker

October 8, 2012

mountrushmore is awsome

CKAinRedStateUSA

October 5, 2012

Breathtaking! Once at Minot AFB, N.D., saw a photo of a B-52 flying over Mt. Rushmore. That was also breathtaking. Note to Bobo re: his Aug. 2012 remarks: Ashamed to be an American? Leave immediately, then.

wkwkw

October 3, 2012

wow!

Anonymous

October 3, 2012

Where is mount rushmore????? No details... very upset.

PaytonDawn

October 2, 2012

I went here not too long ago, to visit my dad. And we went to see the Mount Rushmore monument, and I thought it was outstanding !! I absolutely LOVED it there ! And I can't wait to go and visit again ! :D

nosey rosey

October 1, 2012

I love this sight

Jimbo

September 20, 2012

Oh come now.The Lakota Sioux are far from the original inhabitants. They settled in the Black Hills in the Early 1770s when they took the land by force from the Arikara Indians. Perspective and a familiarity with historical fact seems to be missing in several of the posts here.

lazorone1

September 18, 2012

We went there when I was around eight years old and if I didn't get hurt than it is imposable to get hurt there. It sure was the coolist thing that I have ever laid my eyes on and I have been all over this world.twice

Jerome Stoll

September 8, 2012

Is there any organization that is looking to put FDR on Rushmore. I would like to contact them.

Who is taking the eleven dollars for parking?

September 2, 2012

While the entrance to see the monument is free to walk into the park, everyone including handicap individuals must pay an eleven dollar parking fee to a private company not run by the National Park service. So the greed did not stop when we stole the land from the Lakota Indians the generational sin continues as an independent company continues to profit from three million people per year that visit. I imagine that it is a direct correlation of the fraud in today’s White House as we draw near to the upcoming election be selective when choosing who will steal your money away when voting. If you don’t mind the eleven dollar parking charge, surely the four dollar per gallon of gas to get to the monument might.

michpeg

August 27, 2012

We just got back from an 18 hr. trip to the Black Hills to drop off my son at School of Mines in the Rapid City. I think this Doane Robinson was a smart guy to promote tourism there. though Mt. Rushmore is awesome, Crazy Horse's story is one that all Americans should know. We need to heal our spirits for what was done to our Native People. I think this is a genuine honor to them. The story of Korczak Ziolkowski, it's original sculptor and his family who continues to carve it is incredible. I am thankful we went and spent time there.

kiah

August 24, 2012

nice facts about mount rushmore

BOBO

August 23, 2012

i agree with hawxe nelson and anyonewithabrain! we totally stole their land we dont have the right to do that!!!! americans think they can do whatever they want which is why im ashamed to be one!!!

Anyonewithabrain

August 22, 2012

This place is an insult to mountains everywhere. This is nothing more then a symbol for teaching the lies this country has spred since it started... If you want to support something, what about the people that lived here first...

Anyone with a BRAAAIN

August 22, 2012

Another money making monstrosity to foil your pockets and fill those of the rich and ridiculous. I'm sure the mountain feels the same way...

Melinda

August 5, 2012

I would love to have a "Mount Rushmore" to honor American women such as Lucria Mott, Sacagawea,Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Caddy Stanton and others.

rob

July 21, 2012

Great place to take the family. What a great tribute to our presidents! Every thing is clean and well organized. We were present on the evening of July 12 for the lighting of the faces. Just fair warning,if you are a Republican, you will not like the civics lesson you are captive to.

Anonymous

July 10, 2012

I think its interesting that the head sculptor/Designer Gutzon Borglum was a member ofthe KKK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutzon_Borglum the part about the KKK is in the part about is in there too, but im pretty sure they skipped over that detail at the mmonument

Anonymous

June 22, 2012

amazing and genious!! Id love to go there oneday,soon!

Doug

June 16, 2012

I went there as a young child. My Dad drove us from Michigan for our first Western adventure. I am looking forward to taking my Son to see this important part of America.

Anonymous

May 1, 2012

After securing federal funding, construction on the memorial began in 1927, and the presidents' faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. Upon Gutzon Borglum's death in March 1941, his son Lincoln Borglum took over construction. Although the initial concept called for each president to be depicted from head to waist, lack of funding forced construction to end in late October 1941. The U.S. National Park Service took control of the memorial in 1933, while it was still under construction, and manages the memorial to the present day. If the national Park service took over in 1933 - I would guess that is when it became a national monument.

wako553

April 25, 2012

i love mount rushmore so much im doing a report on it for no reason!

bubba

April 23, 2012

why don't more people get involved

Kegan's Girl(:

April 19, 2012

mount rushmore is a beautiful monument to go see. i've been there before and it was breath taking! ;)

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