Mount Rushmore was known to the Lakota Sioux as "The Six Grandfathers" (Tĥuŋkášila Šákpe) or "Cougar Mountain" (Igmútĥaŋka Pahá). Following a series of military campaigns from 1876 to 1878, the United States asserted control over the area, a claim that is still disputed on the basis of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. For the Lakota Sioux and other tribes, the monument has come to symbolize their mistreatment at the hands of the U.S. government, and in 2020, they refused to accept a settlement valued at over a billion dollars, insisting they would not settle for anything less than the full return of their sacred lands.

Mountain goats are not native to the Black Hills. The population can be traced to six goats, a gift to Custer State Park by Canada in 1924, that escaped from their pens and found their home among the Black Hills granite peaks. There are now more than 200 mountain goats in the area.

In 1885, New York attorney Charles E. Rushmore came to the Black Hills of South Dakota to check the titles to properties for an eastern mining company. He asked his guide, William Challis, "What's the name of that mountain?" Challis is said to have replied, "Hell, it never had a name, but from now on we'll call the damn thing Rushmore."

In 1936, a bill was introduced in Congress that recommended the inclusion of civil-rights leader Susan B. Anthony, but it effectively died after the House Appropriations Committee required that funding would only go toward sculptures that were already in progress.

The final cost of construction was $989,992.32, $5,000 of which was donated by Charles E. Rushmore himself.

The Presidential Trail is 0.6 miles long and has 422 stairs. The trail goes right under Mount Rushmore and gets you a lot closer than just staying at the visitor's center. The trail is open only when weather permits and is usually closed in the winter.

The rock of the mountain is composed of smooth, fine-grained granite. The durable granite erodes only 1 inch (25 mm) every 10,000 years, making it more than sturdy enough to handle long-term exposure. In fact, since each nose is about 240 inches long, they could last up to 2.4 million years before they completely wear away.