[Illustration: John A. Boland, Sr.
_President of Mount Rushmore National Memorial Society of Black
Hills_]
The state of South Dakota and the community of the Black Hills have
logically and with undiminished zeal accepted a considerable financial
and moral responsibility in the evolution of this magnificent Shrine of
Democracy.
Through the successive stages of locating, planning, sculptoring,
improving and publicizing Mount Rushmore, a liaison with Sculptor Gutzon
Borglum and his son, Lincoln, the President, the Congress and the
Department of Interior has been maintained through the instrumentalities
of three nonprofit organizations.
The Mount Harney Memorial Association was first authorized to “carve a
memorial in heroic figures” under an act of Congress, approved by
President Coolidge on March 4, 1925. Brought into being through a bill
passed by the South Dakota Legislature, the Association entered into a
formal contract with Gutzon Borglum and work was commenced in 1927.
Subsequently in 1929, when Federal funds were appropriated for matching
purposes, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission was created,
consisting of twelve members to be named by the President.
Appointed by President Coolidge to serve on the commission were John A.
Boland, Rapid City, S. D.; Charles R. Crane, New York, N. Y.; Joseph S.
Cullinan, Houston, Texas; C. M. Day, Sioux Falls, S. D.; D. B. Gurney,
Yankton, S. D.; Hale Holden, Chicago; Frank O. Lowden, Oregon, Ill.;
Julius Rosenwald, Chicago; Fred W. Sargent, Evanston, Ill. and Mrs.
Lorine Jones Spoonts, Corpus Christi, Texas.
Mr. Cullinan became the Commission’s first president and Mr. Boland was
named chairman of the executive committee at a session in the White
House, where it met upon invitation of the President on June 6, 1929.
It was the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission which assumed
financial responsibility for the Memorial, taking over all property and
contracts from the Mount Harney Association, employing the services of a
staff for the sculptor and disbursing federal and privately-solicited
funds during the course of construction.
It was also the parent organization for the present Mount Rushmore
National Memorial Society of Black Hills, incorporated under the laws of
the District of Columbia in 1930. And while the Society’s objectives
were identical with those of the Commission, it had additional
authority, including the sale of memberships, management of concessions
and the use of available funds for advertising and publicity.
A long list of “Who’s Who” in America and South Dakota have been
recorded in the annals and on the membership roll of the Mount Rushmore
Society. Membership certificate No. 1 is held by John Hays Hammond,
world famed mining engineer, lecturer, consultant of Cecil Rhodes and
active in the development of hydro-electric and irrigation projects.
Number two belongs to Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War under President
Wilson and a one-time member of the Permanent Court of International
Justice at The Hague.
Other original members, some of whose heirs hold the certificates, are
John N. Garner, vice president of the United States; Julius Rosenwald,
American merchant and philanthropist; Sewell L. Avery, chain store
magnate; Mary Garden, American operatic soprano; Walter Dill Scot,
author and president of Northwestern University; Nicholas Murray Butler,
president of Columbia University and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1931,
and Vilhjalmur Stefanson, Arctic Explorer, to mention a few.
The Society’s Board of Trustees presently is composed of Paul E.
Bellamy, John A. Boland, Mrs. Gutzon Borglum, Lincoln Borglum, Francis
Case, Fred C. Christopherson, Miss Nina Cullinan, George E. Flavin, Mrs.
William Fowden, Mrs. Peter Norbeck, Robert E. Driscoll, Sr., Eugene C.
Eppley, Mrs. Frank M. Lewis and William Williamson. Walter H. Johnson is
treasurer and K. F. Olsen secretary. The Commission is not active at
this time.
Originally a portion of the Federal Game Sanctuary in the Harney
National Forest, the 1,686-acre tract that comprises the Mount Rushmore
National Memorial was established in 1929 but did not come under the
National Park Service jurisdiction until 1939.
During the interim, the South Dakota State Highway Commission
constructed the present Memorial Highway from its junction with U. S.
Highway 16. It also built the Iron Mountain Drive with the three tunnels
that frame the Shrine of Democracy. The planning and intricate
engineering skill that went into building the Iron Mountain Highway was
extremely ingenious in itself.