August 13-27, 2021

MEDORA, NORTH DAKOTA

“Medora is a city in Billings County, North Dakota, United States. The only incorporated place in Billings County, it is also the county seat. Much of the surrounding area is part of either Little Missouri National Grassland or Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The population was 112 at the 2010 census.” Wikipedia

Medora is the epitome of a tourist town. While most people come to this burg to enter the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, once here they find much more to do. Almost the whole town is devoted to tourism. There are hotels, restaurants, museums, gift shops, and little else. The locals I experienced were welcoming and friendly, and the more I learned about Medora the more I fell in love with it.

The story of Medora revolves around three men: the Marquis de Mores, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harold Schafer. The first founded the town, the second brought national attention to it, and the third revived the struggling town years later.

The town was founded in 1883 by French nobleman Marquis de Mores, who purchased over 4000 acres of land in order to start a cattle business. He named the town after his wife, Medora von Hoffman. Both came from families with money. The Marquis tried revolutionizing the cattle industry by building a meat-packing plant and used refrigerator cars cooled with ice to ship the dressed meat to Chicago. He built a summer home/hunting lodge, later called the Chateau de Mores, on the outskirts of the town. He also built some other businesses in town, including a stagecoach company with daily trips to Deadwood, SD. The Marquis had a big ego, which led to him being involved in a few duals, earning him quite the reputation. He was charged and tried for murder on at least one occasion, and was acquitted. His ego, reputation, and bad business sense, along with some bad winters caused almost all of his businesses to fail, and he sold his interests around 1889. The Chateau de Mores has been preserved, and is now a museum.

At about the same time the Marquis was establishing Medora, a young Theodore Roosevelt came to the area to hunt buffalo. He spent about two weeks in the area and finally bagged one, but he also left the area as the owner of the Maltese Cross cattle ranch. On Valentine’s Day in 1884, Roosevelt unexpectedly lost both his wife and his mother within hours of each other. To deal with the grief he took refuge at his North Dakota ranch. He purchased more property and hired two friends, hunting guides from Maine, to build a home and run the new ranch, named Elkhorn Ranch. Over the next few years Roosevelt split his time between New York and North Dakota. His cattle business lost money and I assume as he got more involved in New York politics, he spent less and less time at Elkhorn Ranch, eventually selling it to a local rancher. Roosevelt returned to Medora as a presidential candidate and later claimed that he would not have become president if not for his time in Medora.

Fast forward to the 1960s. Buildings were falling apart, and the town was in disarray. Enter Harold Schafer, a self-made businessman and founder of the Gold Seal Company, the maker of Mr. Bubble, Glass Wax, and other nationally known household products. At the request of a friend Schafer purchased the Roughrider Hotel and Ferris Store. When the state legislature refused to appropriate money to restore the buildings Schafer spent his own money to do so. Schafer fell in love with the area and spent a lot of money restoring the town, including purchasing an old theater built into the side of a hill in 1958 for a showing of a Theodore Roosevelt play called Old Four Eyes. Schafer and his wife decided they wanted to produce a family-friendly show that, had something for kids in it, paid tribute to Theodre Roosevelt, and had a big patriotic ending, thus the Medora Musical was started in 1965 and continues today. The Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, established in 1986 with a multi-million dollar gift from Schafer, is now tasked with maintaining Schafer’s vision for Medora. The Harold Schafer Heritage Center tells the story of this entrepreneur and his love for Medora.

Medora also houses the Billings County Museum, which has a great collection of items telling the story of the people that settled in the area, and the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Center of Western Heritage and Cultures, telling the stories and honoring the culture of North Dakota’s Native American, Ranching and Rodeo communities.