The Making of Mount Rushmore with Images

Mount Rushmore National Memorial sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota, United States. Master carver Gutzon Borglum created Mount Rushmore to commemorate America's first 150 years as a free country. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created the sculpture's design and oversaw the project's execution from 1927 to 1941. The four presidents were chosen to represent the nation's birth, growth, development, and preservation, respectively. The Making of Mount Rushmore with Images

Mount Rushmore

Construction of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, circa 1941. Partially carved in the rock are sculptural portraits of George Washington (1732 - 1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919) and Abraham Lincoln, (1809 - 1865).

American Monument

"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." Via

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Model of the future national memorial "Mount Rushmore", which is a bas-relief carved in rock containing sculptures of four US presidents, in the workshop of sculptor Gutzon Borglum, circa 1925.

Workers shrug the head of the figure of George Washington under the direction of sculptor Gutzon Borglum (left), July 22, 1929.

President Franklin Roosevelt visits Mount Rushmore, August 31, 1936. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum stands in the center with his hand raised, and the President, his son and other members of the delegation visiting the memorial.

Construction of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in 1936.

Builders with pneumatic jackhammers work to create an eye sculpture by President Theodore Roosevelt, part of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, circa 1939.