Mount Rushmore Facts for Kids

A Picture of the Mount Rushmore
  • Name: Mount Rushmore
  • Location: Pennington County, South Dakota, USA
  • GPS Cordinates: 43°52’44″N 103°27’35″W
  • Building Type: Colossal Sculpture
  • Built: Between October 4th, 1927 and October 31st, 1941
  • Annual Visitors: 2.3 million (2018)
  • Annual Revenue: $142.2 million (local communities, 2016)

26 Mount Rushmore Facts for Kids

  1. Mount Rushmore is a colossal sculpture carved into the side of a mountain.
  2. Mount Rushmore is also known as the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
  3. Mount Rushmore is sometimes referred to as the Shrine of Democracy.
  4. Mount Rushmore is in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota, USA.
  5. The GPS coordinates to Mount Rushmore are 43°52’44″N 103°27’35″W.
  6. The address to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is 13000 SD-244, Keystone, SD 57751.
  7. The concept of Mount Rushmore is credited to South Dakota historian Doane Robinson.
  8. Mount Rushmore was designed and sculpted by American sculptor Gutzon Borglum.
  9. Mount Rushmore contains the heads of four U.S. Presidents.
  10. Each of the President’s heads on Mount Rushmore are 60 feet high.
  11. The four U.S. Presidents heads on Mount Rushmore, in order from left to right are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
  12. The four U.S. Presidents on Mount Rushmore represent the United States of America’s birth, growth, development, and preservation.
  13. U.S. President George Washington represents the birth of the United States of America.
  14. U.S. President Thomas Jefferson represents the growth of the United States of America.
  15. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt represents the development of the United States of America.
  16. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln represents the preservation of the United States of America.
  17. Gutzon Borglum, his son and 400 other workers sculpted the President’s heads on Mount Rushmore.
  18. The construction of Mount Rushmore started on October 4th, 1927.
  19. The construction of Mount Rushmore ended on October 31st, 1941.
  20. In 2018, over 2.3 million tourists visited Mount Rushmore.
  21. In 2016, it’s estimated that local communities around Mount Rushmore generated $142.2 million from tourists.
  22. At the time, it cost $989,992.32 to create Mount Rushmore. At the time, this was an enormous amount of money. In 2019, adjusted for inflation the project would cost over $14.5 million.
  23. In facts, Mount Rushmore was originally designed to contain the head to waist depiction of each U.S. President. However, the funds ran out and the project was never completed.
  24. The most complete U.S. President on Mount Rushmore is George Washington.
  25. One of the other locations suggested for this memorial was The Needles of the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA. This site was abandoned as a potential location due to the poor quality of the granite. This site was also considered sacred ground by the Lakota (Sioux), and they strongly opposed the use of this location.
  26. Nick Clifford was the last living carver of Mount Rushmore, sadly he passed away in November 2019.

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