Video: 'The Making of Mount Rushmore'

(Friday, October 31, 1941) — Work was completed today on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota.

The sculpture features the 60-foot heads of Presidents George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). The four presidents were chosen to represent the nation’s birth, growth, development and preservation, respectively.

Video: 'Construction of Mount Rushmore National Memorial'

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.

Each president was originally to be depicted from head to waist, but lack of funding forced construction to end today.