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.
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