Six Grandfathers. Four Presidents.

 

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (Lakota translation: Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created the sculpture's design and oversaw the project's execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln Borglum. South Dakota historian, Doane Robinson, is credited with conceiving the idea who wished to feature American West heroes. Borglum thought it should have broader appeal and chose 60-foot heads of four presidents to represent the nation's birth, growth, development and preservation, respectively. Each president was originally to be depicted from head to waist, but lack of funding forced construction to end on the last day of October 1941.