Looking up at Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore, a batholith in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota, United States. 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. Mount Rushmore features 60-foot (18 m.) sculptures of the heads of four United States presidents: George Washington (1732-1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). The memorial park covers 1,278.45 acres (2.00 sq mi; 5.17 sq. km.) and is 5,725 feet (1,745 m.) above sea level. Each president was originally to be depicted from head to waist. Lack of funding forced construction to end on October 31, 1941.