MOUNT RUSHMORE Rourke media educational Joanne Mattern rourkeeducationalmedia com Scan for Related Titles and Teacher Resources
A BIG IDEA It was 1923 and Doane Robinson had a big idea Robinson was the state historian of South Dakota He knew his state was full of natural beauty It was also an important part of American history during the frontier days However South Dakota had a problem It was far away from most major American cities and difficult to get to Robinson wanted other people to discover South Dakota and he thought of a clever way to get them there Robinson wanted to carve giant statues into the rocks of South Dakota’s Black Hills He believed that these large statues would attract tourists to South Dakota Robinson talked about his idea to everyone he knew Many people liked Robinson’s idea Freedom Fact At the time automobiles were becoming popular making it easier for people to travel Building giant statues seemed like a great way to attract new drivers to the state 4
One of the people Robinson talked to was Peter Norbeck Norbeck was a U S senator and he had many important connections in the government Norbeck loved Robinson’s idea Because of his state support many other people joined the project The faces of four great U S presidents look out from Mount Rushmore one of the United States most powerful symbols 5
