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The Mount Rushmore Monument as seen from the viewing plaza. Tags: Mount Rushmore View |
Tags: Mount Rushmore View |
Greenpeace drapes banner over Mount Rushmore By Bob Ewing Tags: Mount Rushmore View |
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Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone (Keystone, South Dakota), South Dakota in the United States. Sculpted by Gutzon Borglum and later by his son Lincoln Borglum, Mount Rushmore features convert60ftmadj=on sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents (President of the United States) (in order from left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The entire memorial covers convert1278.45acrekm2sigfig=3 and is convert5725ftm above sea level.
South Dakota historian Doane Robinson is credited with conceiving the idea of carving the likenesses of famous people into the Black Hills region of South Dakota in order to promote tourism in the region. Robinsons initial idea was to sculpt the Needles (Needles (Black Hills)); however, Gutzon Borglum rejected the Needles site and chose the larger Mount Rushmore. Borglum also decided the sculpture should have a more national focus, and chose the four presidents whose likenesses would be carved into the mountain. After securing federal funding, construction on the memorial began in 1927, and the presidents faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. Upon Gutzon Borglums death in March 1941, his son Lincoln Borglum took over construction. Though the initial concept called for each president to be depicted from head to waist, lack of funding forced construction to end in 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. It attracts approximately two million people annually.
Iucn Category: V
Photo Caption: (left to right) Sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln represent the first 150 years of the history of the United States.
Map: US_Locator_Blank.svg
Locator X: 111
Locator Y: 49
Birth Location: Pennington County, South Dakota, United States, USA
Nearest City: Keystone, South Dakota
Lat D: 43
Lat M: 52
Lat S: 44.21
Lat Ns: N
Long D: 103
Long M: 27
Long S: 35.37
Long Ew: W
Area: convert1278.45acrekm2sigfig=3
Established: March 3, 1925
Visitation Num: 2,757,971