Site Near Theodore Roosevelt National Park Preferred For Theodore Roosevelt Library

A patch of North Dakota's rugged grasslands and badlands near Theodore Roosevelt National Park is preferred for the former president's official library/TRPLF

A roughly 60-acre grasslands site a bit south of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Medora, North Dakota, is the preferred location for the proposed Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, although a number of issues must be resolved before the land can be acquired.

While a site within the national park was considered, and favored by North Dakota's governor, consultants hired to analyze various sites deemed it too small, within the 100-year flood plain of the Little Missouri River, and possibly too expensive to acquire from the National Park Service. Instead, the selection committee is eyeing a site about 1.5 miles south of Medoria that intersects with the Maah Daah Hey Trail, a 96-mile-long trail that runs across the Little Missouri National Grassland and touches all three units of the park. It also is located near facilities used for the popular Medora Musical.

The Maah Daah Hey Trail Site encompasses both flat Butte top and rugged Badlands. The top of the Butte is fairly flat with a gentle slope that leads to a distinct edge in many places. The experience from along the edge ranges from a precipitous drop-off to a more gentle descent into the Badlands. There are 360 degree views from the top of the Butte and spectacular panoramic views of the Badlands and Little Missouri River plain from the edges of the Butte. Once descended into the Badlands there is a surrounded immersive experience highlighted by captured distant Badlands views down the “draws." -- Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation.

However, the Medora Grazing Association has first right of refusal to purchase the site, which lies within the national grassland, from the U.S. Forest Service. Additionally, soil testing needs to be done to rule out geotechnical/structural complications, and zoning issues concerning hillside developments must be navigated.

In summary, the Maah Daah Hey Trail site best aligns with the goals and aspirations of the TRPLF to create a memorable immersive Badlands experience that captures the spirit of the area and the restorative qualities of the raw environment that brought Theodore Roosevelt to North Dakota — in the process transforming him into the man who would become one of the most dynamic characters and influential presidents in the history of the United States. -- Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation.

The North Dakota Legislature has offered a $50 million endowment for the project if $100 million in private donations can be raised for the library.

Theodore Roosevelt headed out to this landscape from New York City for a three-week stay in September 1883. In the Dakota Territory, Roosevelt wanted to experience the dust, storms, muscle aches, and hardships of the Western frontier before it was overrun by settlement. He wanted to hunt for sustenance, to shed the perception of being a well-to-do New Yorker and greenhorn, and be acknowledged as a working cowboy.

Though he only spent three weeks there during his first stay, Roosevelt would return on an annual basis and bought two ranches. His base camp became the Elkhorn Ranch on the banks of the Little Missouri River. The site today is located within the national park.