With over three million visitors per year, Mount Rushmore National Memorial is South Dakota’s busiest attraction.  Known as the “Shrine of Democracy,” the sculpture has captured the ideals and imaginations of generations.  Originally intended to increase tourism to the Black Hills area, the carving of Mount Rushmore National Memorial was approved by a Congressional delegation and President Calvin Coolidge in 1927.  Carving the mountain finished in 1941 without any fatalities.

In 1924, sculptor Gutzon Borglum traveled to the Black Hills after being persuaded by historian, Doane Robinson, to sculpt the grand monument.   Choosing its current location – because of its exposure to the sun – Borglum said, “America will march along that skyline.” 

From October 4, 1927 to October 31, 1941 Borglum and 400 workers sculpted U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln into the mountainside.