The Gateway to Mount Rushmore

Visit Rapid City, the “city of presidents,” on the way to the iconic monument.

- PETER CORBETT

Just outside the historic mining town of Keystone, South Dakota, Mount Rushmore National Memorial rises majestically from the Black Hills.

Chad Coppess, South Dakota Department of Tourism

Rapid City in western South Dakota is the gateway to the iconic Mount Rushmore National Memorial, one of America’s most revered monuments.

Since the memorial opened in 1941, nearly 130 million people have visited the 60-foot busts of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt etched in granite.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum chose those four influential presidents for the memorial.

“As far as I know, no one argued with him,” said Laurie Sutterer, Rapid City tourism spokesperson. “It was his vision that ultimately got carved on Rushmore.”

Borglum started carving his monumental work August 10, 1927. And President Calvin Coolidge attended a dedication ceremony that day wearing a wide-brimmed 10-gallon hat and riding a horse named Mistletoe to the remote carving site.

“The people of the future will see history and art combined to portray the spirit of patriotism,” said Coolidge, as reported by the Weekly Pioneer Times.

Borglum died in March 1941. The monument was unfinished but his son Lincoln completed the work seven months later.