Which four presidents are depicted on Mount Rushmore?

Mount Rushmore depicts George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

The colossal granite sculpture in South Dakota was designed by Gutzon Borglum and carved with help from about 400 workers. Construction began in 1927, and the presidents’ faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. Work officially ended in 1941 after funding ran out.

Borglum selected the four presidents to represent major stages in the nation’s history: Washington’s founding role, Jefferson’s expansion of the country, Roosevelt’s development, and Lincoln’s preservation of the Union. The faces are each about 60 feet high.

The project began with a different regional concept. South Dakota historian Doane Robinson originally wanted figures connected with the American West, but Borglum argued for nationally significant presidents. Mount Rushmore’s history also includes a major land issue: the sculpture stands in the Black Hills, land taken from the Sioux Nation, whose ownership dispute remains part of the monument’s context.