Governor # 9: Peter Norbeck

Pierre, South Dakota

In office 1917-1921

Elected in 1916, Peter Norbeck was the first South-Dakota-born governor of the state. He supported the right of women to vote and the Prohibition of alcohol, and authorized a purchase and release program to boost the state's pheasant population. But his most lasting legacy is Mount Rushmore. As governor he brought sculptor Gutzom Borglum to South Dakota, championed the monument's construction, secured federal funding for it, and insisted that his hero, Teddy Roosevelt, be included.

Norbeck's statue, by sculptor James Michael Maher, depicts him as a surveyor standing on a craggy outcrop, reflecting his side gig as North Dakota's largest well-driller, as well as his aggressive gubernatorial program of highway construction, development of Custer State Park, and promotion of mountain-carving the four big President heads in the Black Hills.