Mount Rushmore National Memorial is named after Charles E. Rushmore, who held which career position?

Charles E. Rushmore (1857-1931) was an American businessman and attorney for whom Mount Rushmore is named. He was born in New York City.

In 1883, a tin mine was opened in South Dakota causing excitement among Eastern investors. Two years later, Rushmore was in the Black Hills of South Dakota to check the titles to properties for an Eastern mining company. Rushmore quickly made friends among the miners and prospectors.

One day he was returning to headquarters of the Harney Peak Consolidated Tin Co., located at Pine Camp, north of the great granite peak, soon to bear his name. With him were a local businessman and William W. Challis, a prospector and guide. As they neared the mountain, Rushmore turned to Challis and asked its name. Challis jestingly replied: "Never had any but it has now- we'll call the thing Rushmore."

According to rancher Jerry Urbanek, Rushmore returned to the Black Hills annually to hunt big game. On one trip, while accompanied by Ted Brockett of Keystone, SD, Rushmore joked that his annual treks to the Hills had earned him the right to have the mountain named after himself. "So just for the hell of it," Urbanek claimed, the locals started calling the hill Mount Rushmore. In 1925, Rushmore made the largest donation of $5,000 (2018 = $72,000) towards the sculpture of the 4 presidents' heads on the mountain.

Whatever the precise story, the U.S. Board of Geographic Names officially recognized the name Mount Rushmore in June 1930.