MEDORA, ND – Construction has begun on the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
Ed O’Keefe is the Library’s CEO. He says construction began June 15th.
“If you’re in Medora, ND right now you’ll see an active construction site with a lot of activity on the land and more to come”, O’Keefe said.
Rendering of the early design concept for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
“We’ve started with the topsoil. We’re looking at about 65% completed at this point. Next, we will shift to the construction of the east wall of the east wing. By March or April of next year, you’ll begin to see steel beams and mass timber at the site,” O’Keefe added.
O’Keefe also addressed the controversial statue of former President Theodore Roosevelt – which stood outside the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and was shipped to the TR Library Foundation. The statue – called the “Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt” – depicts Roosevelt on a horse, flanked by two other men – one is Native American, the other is of African descent.
“As of right now, we have no plans to publicly display it,” O’Keefe says. “If there is an opportunity in the future to recontextualize it and put it in a place where you explicitly consent to seeing it or understanding it. There may be an opportunity to confront that history is hard and ask what lessons you can derive from it. Knowing that we do have custody of that object it presents an opportunity to have one of those crucially hard conversations about history and our future together,” O’Keefe explained.
The site is immediately adjacent to the Medora Musical Amphitheater. O’Keefe says it will be on the bluff just west of the Amphitheater.
The plan is to open the Library on July Fourth, 2026. O’Keefe says the Library will reflect all of Roosevelt’s legacy.
