Medora Prepares For ‘Presidential’ Transformation With Hope And Some Anxiety
By Michael Standaert
North Dakota News Cooperative
Visitors driving into Medora on any recent crisp autumn morning are currently greeted by a flurry of activity in preparation for the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library next July.
Traffic slows to a crawl and flaggers funnel cars through a lane of orange cones near the edge of town on its east, all the way past the Medora Campground near the Little Missouri just to its west.
Pavers hiss, trucks idle, jackhammers break up sections of road. It is loud, dusty and slightly inconvenient for locals, and for many here, a sign that things are about to change.
The addition of the presidential library is a once-in-a-generation project that will transform Medora from being a mainly summer destination into a year-round draw.
The opening on July 4, 2026, will coincide with the many events across the country as the U.S. commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The town’s roughly 100 residents are excited about the opportunities, but also a bit anxious about how big an impact the opening will have and what happens when quiet seasons stop being so quiet.
Changes in seasonal rhythms
For decades, Medora has followed a familiar beat: surging in summer for the Medora Musical, tourists and families spilling into Theodore Roosevelt National Park, then tapering to a whisper by late fall.
In the winter, restaurants reduce hours, shops hibernate, locals breathe. Some use the time to get out of town.
That rhythm is about to change.
TRPL officials expect 150,000 to 185,000 visitors to the presidential library in year one, stabilizing around 200,000 annually.
“We’ll operate seven days a week during the summer with around 2,600 people coming through the building,” said TRPL chief communications officer Matt Briney. “You’ll probably have a timed ticket in the summer, and that’ll likely be by the hour. We’ll learn a lot in the first summer, and we’ll get better at it next summer.”
Briney said the opening celebrations will be a weeklong event around July 4th next summer, with a member-focused period the week after. After that, the library will adopt a more general admission system.