Medora

A sign for Medora, ND, mimics the iconic Hollywood sign and is set on a bluff above the Medora Musical stage.

Earlier this fall I had the opportunity to photograph Medora, ND, for a New York Times article about the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library being built there. Medora is a tiny town in the western North Dakota badlands with a year-round population of about 125. So what does Theodore Roosevelt have to do with Medora? Roosevelt first came to the area in 1883 to shoot a buffalo, wishing to do so before they were all gone. Apparently the irony of killing one of the few remaining buffalo was lost on Roosevelt (today the mounted head from that hunt remains on display at Roosevelt’s Oyster Bay home). A year later, following the death of his mother and wife on the same day, Roosevelt came back to try his hand at ranching. His first operation was the Maltese Cross Ranch located south of Medora, but he later established the Elkhorn Ranch north of town, the site of which today is part of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Though his time in the badlands was short it was probably the most formative experience of his life. “I never would have been President had it not been for my time in [North] Dakota!” This is why there is such a connection between Medora and Roosevelt.

Downtown Medora. The Rough Riders Hotel (originally called “The Metropolitan”) was built in 1884. It went through its first renovation in 1963 when businessman Harold Schafer, the man credited with making Medora into the tourist destination it is today, bought it. In 2010 the hotel underwent another major renovation. Many of the buildings in Medora are modeled to have the look of an old west town.

Medora started as not much more than a tent-town station stop along the Northern Pacific Railroad known as “Little Missouri,” named for the nearby creek that carved out the badlands. Little Missouri is where Roosevelt disembarked from the train for his buffalo hunt. The Marquis de Mores, a French nobleman, founded Medora in 1883 and named the town for his wife, Medora von Hoffman. The Marquis’ plan was to slaughter and pack beef right in Medora and ship it in refrigerated boxcars east. At the time cattle was normally shipped “on the hoof” to packing plants in Chicago, but the journey was stressful on cattle and caused them to shed weight on the way, which meant shedding profits to cattleman. The Marquis thought he could maximize profits by packing beef right where it was fattened up on the Dakota grass.

The Marquis ran a packing plant on the west side of Medora that never was a resounding success. The plant closed in 1886 and burned in 1907, today just some foundations and a chimney remain. But that’s not all of the Marquis’ legacy that remains in Medora, his “Chateau de Mores", a “hunting cabin,” still stands south of town and is still furnished with many of the Marquis’ original possessions (including hundreds of wine bottles). The Chateau was built in 1883 but the de Mores only stayed in it for three years. Calling it a cabin seriously downplays its size, it would’ve been more like a mansion when it was built on the frontier. The de Mores hosted friends at the Chateau who came out to hunt. Roosevelt visited the Chateau a few times, and borrowed some of the books from the library, but the Marquis and Roosevelt were never exactly friends. The de Mores never returned after 1886 and a hired caretaker kept the Chateau in order. It was finally given to the state in 1936 by the Marquis’ son with the condition it be maintained and open to the public, which it is to this day. The Marquis himself was killed in Algeria in 1896 on another business adventure.

A visitor at the Chateau de Mores

Edward, an Assistant Site Manager at the Chateau de Mores, discussed the history of the Chateau and of Medora in the Chateau’s mud room, where hunting expeditions were outfitted.

Badlands Pizza and Saloon in downtown Medora.

Roosevelt’s ranching time in Medora was pretty short. The winter of 1886-87 was particularly harsh and mostly wiped out the cattle ranchers, including Roosevelt, on the northern plains. Roosevelt returned to New York and resumed his political career, eventually culminating in becoming President with the assassination of William McKinley in 1901 and his outright election to the Presidency in 1904. Meanwhile, back in Medora, some people recognized the connection between Roosevelt and the badlands and saved his Maltese Cross Ranch cabin. The cabin was actually moved to the World’s Fair in St. Louis in 1904, during Roosevelt’s Presidency, and displayed there before going on tour to Portland before returning to North Dakota, first to Fargo and then to the state capitol grounds in Bismarck. In 1959 it returned home to the grounds of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park (the grasslands north of town became a national park in 1947) where it remains on display today.

Roosevelt’s Maltese Cross Ranch cabin on display at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s visitor center.

Lisa and Chuck, both from Tennessee, observe buffalo at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park was established in 1947. The park drew some tourists but one man really changed Medora into an all around tourist destination: Harold Schafer. Schafer was a North Dakota born businessman who established the Gold Seal Corporation (most famous for its “Mr. Bubble” brand). Schafer began buying up derelict buildings in Medora and restoring them as well as paying for infrastructure upgrades to the village. In 1965 Schafer bought the Burning Hills Amphitheater, an outdoor venue west of town with limited success, and turned it into the Medora Musical. The professional-level musical tells the history of the area and consistently draws large crowds through the summer season. Schafer’s vision for Medora as a tourist destination eventually came to fruition, and that’s the town’s main source of business today.

Lesko, a seasonal worker from Macedonia, tends bar at the Little Missouri Saloon.

Hats and dollar bills line the ceiling of the Little Missouri Saloon. The hats belong to local ranchers or ranch hands that worked in Medora. The dollar bills are from tourists. Once the ceiling is full the dollar bills are removed and donated to the local fire department.

Deb, a seasonal worker from Texas, admires a photo of Joe Ferris at the Ferris General Store. Roosevelt rented one of the rooms above the store to stay in during his trips into town. Today the store sells gifts and souvenirs.

A visitor at the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame. The hall of fame was established in 1995 and features a museum telling the story of Native Americans, cowboys, and ranching in the area.

Kermit Roosevelt III is a lawyer, author, law professor, and the great-great-grandson of Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt III serves on the board of directors for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.

A statue of Theodor Roosevelt at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park Visitor’s Center is dressed in Roosevelt’s actual clothing.

Wild horses graze at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.