People are just finding out what Mount Rushmore was supposed to look like before funding ran out

The design plan for Mount Rushmore is pretty wildly different compared to the finished product.

Construction on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial - which is carved into the side of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills region of South Dakota - first began in 1927 and ended in 1941, despite the sculpture not being finished as per its original designs.

Original plans for the controversial Mount Rushmore National Memorial saw a design of the four former US presidents alongside a large inscription - called the Entablature - planned for the eastern side of the mountain.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum intended to carve the Entablature 'in an area shaped like the territory of the Louisiana Purchase using large, three-foot tall letters,' the National Park Service details.

The script was meant to detail 'a brief history of the United States, symbolized by Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln' and carved next to the four faces of the former presidents.

The NPS adds: "The Entablature would emphasize that Mount Rushmore was a national memorial, commemorating the first 150 years of the United States, not just the lives of the four great men."

However, in 1934, it was resolved the Entablature text part of the carving would have to be completely ditched.

Mount Rushmore wasn't meant to look how it does now. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

When sculptors got to work on Jefferson's face, they found there were 'inconsistencies in the rock' and so they decided to move him to the left side of Washington - opposed to where the design first mapped him out on the right - however, this was where the Entablature was.

The Entablature text was ultimately discarded, not just because of the repositioning of Jefferson's face, but also because Borglum thought it would probably be too tricky to actually read the words from a passersby's standpoint below.

It was resolved the words would go inside a room behind the sculpture - the Hall of Records. However, these plans fell through 'after the United States Congress threatened to cut off all funding for the project unless used specifically to finish the sculpture itself' meaning Borglum stopped work on the hall in 1939.

The original design featured script. (National Park Service)

The sculptor spent the next two years 'traveling and working to secure additional funding', but passed away in 1941 before he was able to try to revisit and complete it.

This, alongside the impending second World War, meant work was terminated on the mountain, resulting in not just no script now being present but also the carvings of the four former US presidents being simplified, just their heads remaining opposed to some outfit details that were featured in smaller test versions of the sculpture.

NPS states: "On October 31, 1941, Mount Rushmore National Memorial was declared a completed project."

And people are flooding to social media in disbelief after seeing the original plans for the sculpture for the first time.

U/xperio28 took to Reddit thread r/Damnthatsinteresting to share the 'original mockup' of the memorial.

U/Seminmango said: "Good thing they started with the faces first, so we don’t have a bunch of disembodied suits on a mountain."

"Instagram vs real life," u/ThespisIronicus added.

And a third u/fedplast wrote: "What is this? Mount Rushmore for ants?"

Topics: Money, Reddit, Social Media, US News, Politics

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.