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Official name: Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Built:
1927- 1941
Designed by: Gutzon Borglum
Type: Monument
City: Keystone
State: South Dakota
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O
ne of America's national treasures, this monument symbolizes how the United States can take themes common in other parts of the world (in this case a frieze) and recreate them in an unprecedented scale. The monument is busts of four American Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. They were chosen to represent the great leaders of the country's first 150 years, and each symbolizes a particular aspect of the country's history: the nation's founding, political philosophy, preservation, and expansion. It took 400 workers 14 years to carve the 60-foot tall sculptures into the granite face of Mount Rushmore. But there is more to this 1,278-acre national park than just the monument. There is also the Sculptor's House, built in 1939 that shows how the monument was made, as well as a number of hiking, walking, and interpretive trails.
>On a clear day, the heads are visible for 60 miles.
>Mount Rushmore is 6,000 feet (1,829 meters) above sea level.
>The busts face northeast toward Rapid City.
>Mount Rushmore was designated a National Memorial in 1925 -- two years before construction began.
>The idea for the monument came from Jonah Robinson of the South Dakota State Historical Society.
> The origin of the name "Mount Rushmore" is not entirely clear. The most popular story is that a New York attorney by the name of Charles E. Rushmore visited the area in 1885 and upon learning that the then-uncarved peak lacked an official name, decided to name it after himself.
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