Charles Edward Rushmore (December 2, 1857 – October 31, 1931) was an American businessman and attorney for whom Mount Rushmore is named. Born in New York City, he was the son of Edward Carman Rushmore and Mary Eliza (née Dunn) Rushmore, of

Tuxedo Park, New York Tuxedo Park is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Orange County, New York, United States. Its population was 623 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area as well as the la ...

. In 1885 Rushmore came to the

Black Hills The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk P ...

of South Dakota to check the titles to properties for an eastern mining company owned by James Wilson following the 1883 opening of the

Etta Etta may refer to: Places in the United States *Etta, Mississippi, an unincorporated community *Etta, Oklahoma, a census-designated place *Etta, South Dakota, a ghost town *Etta, Virginia, an unincorporated community Other uses *Etta (name), a lis ...

tin mine. How Mount Rushmore came to be named after Charles is subject to contradictory recounting, but the

United States Board of Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

officially recognized the name in June 1930, five years after Rushmore donated $5,000 () towards

Gutzon Borglum John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Mountain in Georg ...

's sculpture. The memorial was dedicated by President

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...

on August 10, 1927. Rushmore was a member of the

Phi Gamma Delta Phi Gamma Delta (), commonly known as Fiji, is a social fraternity with more than 144 active chapters and 10 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1848. Along with Phi Kappa Psi, Phi ...

fraternity and a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. He was married to Jeanette E. Carpenter.

Notes and references

1857 births 1931 deaths American lawyers People from Tuxedo, New York 19th-century American businesspeople {{SouthDakota-stub