By Scott Hennen
MEDORA, N.D. — The dream of a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library rising from the rugged bluffs of the North Dakota Badlands is quickly becoming a reality. With construction well underway and an opening date set for July 2026, this ambitious project — an official America 250 event — promises to be one of the nation’s most distinctive cultural landmarks.
North Dakota’s own Doug Burgum, a native of Arthur who found business success with Great Plains Software before selling to Microsoft, then served as governor and now as U.S. Secretary of the Interior, has long championed the library project in Medora.
His vision of honoring Roosevelt in the landscape that shaped the 26th president is being realized. Burgum has hosted an impressive gathering of guests interested in seeing and supporting the project.
This past weekend included renowned entrepreneur Kimball Musk, brother of Elon Musk, who has served on the boards of Tesla and Space X. It was Musk’s first trip to the Badlands.
Also in attendance were Dan Wright, CEO/Founder of Armada, one of several artificial intelligence firms exploring opportunities in North Dakota, and famed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, one of the foremost experts on Roosevelt’s life.
Rosie Rios, Chair of the America 250 Semiquincentennial Commission, toured the site to see firsthand how the project aligns with the nation’s upcoming 250th-anniversary celebrations.
The event was hosted by the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library team, including CEO Ed O’Keefe, Executive Director Robby Loff, and Development Director Dan Muus.
As the opening date draws closer, fundraising is entering its final phase, but organizers stress that opportunities remain for donors large and small to participate in this lasting legacy.
Roosevelt’s Diary and Artifacts of a Life Lived Largely
Among the most remarkable artifacts slated for display is Theodore Roosevelt’s personal diary, on loan from the Library of Congress.
On February 14, 1884, Roosevelt marked one heartbreaking page with a single bold “X” and wrote, “The light has gone out of my life.”
That tragic day, both his mother, Martha “Mittie” Bulloch Roosevelt, and his wife, Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, died within hours of each other — his mother from typhoid fever and his wife from kidney failure (then known as Bright’s disease), just two days after giving birth to their daughter, Alice Lee.
The library will also feature one of the most symbolic relics from Roosevelt’s ranching years: a set of interlocked elk antlers, representing two bull elk whose horns became fatally entangled during combat.
Roosevelt discovered the remains near his ranch along the Little Missouri River and named his ranch “Elkhorn” in their honor. The intertwined antlers — long part of the Smithsonian collection — are being loaned to Medora to be displayed where Roosevelt’s own frontier story began.
A Building That Reflects the Land
The library’s striking design includes a massive rammed-earth wall forming the atrium’s heart — a technique most famously used in the Great Wall of China and rarely seen in modern American construction.
General contractor J.E. Dunn sought bids nationwide and, when none materialized, recruited Winn Construction of Dickinson to take on the challenge.
They delivered, in O’Keefe’s words, “to perfection.”
That craftsmanship has already drawn global attention from architects interested in sustainable and regionally inspired construction.
A New Era for Medora and the Badlands
Already, almost 300,000 visitors attend the Medora Musical each year and nearly 900,000 explore Theodore Roosevelt National Park — the only U.S. national park named for a person.
With the addition of the library, tourism officials anticipate a dramatic rise in visitors to Medora and western North Dakota, joining Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone as part of a premier northern plains travel circuit.
When the doors open in 2026, the library will stand as more than a tribute to a president. It will celebrate a landscape, a legacy, and the enduring spirit of the man who once called the Badlands his second home.
Learn more at www.trlibrary.com.
