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Join Telegram ChannelTheodore Roosevelt is best known as the 26th President of the United States and the legendary “rough horseman” of the Spanish-American War. But much less is known about his deep ties and love for North Dakota, a state that helped shape his larger-than-life personality, adventurous spirit and immense love for the outdoors.
Today, nearly 106 years after his death, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation plans to celebrate and honor the connection between man and land that shaped him by opening a massive, state-of-the-art presidential library built on over 90 acres in the Badlands of North Dakota.
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The interior of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library will use natural materials and lighting to attract visitors and inspire them to seek out the “intense life” that Roosevelt enjoyed. (Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation)
The project is based on Roosevelt's three values of citizenship, leadership and conservation. The library, built just outside Medora, North Dakota, will overlook Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which is the only national park named after a person.
In Roosevelt's mind, the foundation of the project was not to build just any ordinary library. The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library will harness the power of technology and nature to provide visitors with a highly immersive experience that, rather than confining them, will inspire and challenge you to experience the joy of the outdoors as Roosevelt did.
The library will not only seek to inform people about Roosevelt. Instead, it will use immersive storytelling methods, the latest technology including augmented reality, and the surrounding nature of Medora, North Dakota, to show people of all ages what they can learn from nature. life and experiences of the man and the president.
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Teddy Roosevelt fell in love with the Badlands during a hunting trip in the 1880s, according to historians.
Citizenship
In a message announcing the project, Edward O'Keefe, CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation, said, “TR shied away from criticism and encouraged everyone to 'enter the arena' of life.”
O'Keefe, a North Dakota native, explained that the library's vision is to serve as a hub for civic engagement, learning and research. The library will include a large auditorium that the foundation envisions as a space that could host future presidential debates.
The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is intended to serve as a hub for civic engagement, learning and research. The library will include a large auditorium that the foundation envisions as a space that could host future presidential debates. (Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation)
Above all, O'Keefe said the library would seek to connect people with what Roosevelt described as the “intense life” of the North Dakota wilderness.
“North Dakota is the fulcrum of the hero’s journey in the almost unbelievable story of TR’s life,” O’Keefe said.
North America, United States, North Dakota, Medora, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Painted Canyon. (Photo by: Bernard Friel/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
“[Roosevelt] wrote that if all of his memories were to be taken away from him, and he was forced to keep only one memory of his incredible life, he would choose to remember “my life on the ranch with its experiences close to the nature and among the men who lived nearest to it,'” he explained. “He did not choose the memory of the Roughriders or the charge toward Kettle Hill; he wouldn't remember McKinley's assassination and his rise from the vice presidency to the Oval Office… TR chose to remember North Dakota, and so North Dakota chooses to remember TR.
Direction
Roosevelt, who served two transformative presidential terms from 1901 to 1909, moved to the Badlands of North Dakota in 1884, in his early 20s. He was suffering from a broken heart after the death of his wife and mother on the same fateful day. It was in North Dakota that the broken man found solace in the solitude and beauty of the wilderness.
Above all, Edward O'Keefe, CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, said the library would seek to connect people with what Roosevelt used to describe as the “intense life” of the North Dakota wilderness.
He later wrote that he “would not have been president without my experience in North Dakota.”
With that in mind, O'Keefe said the library “will not be a box in the Badlands with artifacts under glass,” but “like TR's life, it will be an experience.”
“We want every visitor to the TR Presidential Library and Museum to come away understanding the role of nature as a restorative force in TR’s lives, and that each of us can be the change we want to see in the world ” said O'Keefe. . “This museum can be a platform to foster civic dialogue, thoughtful debate and inspiration around the world.”
In front of the library will be a large circular hiking trail surrounding the mound with several unique viewpoints along the way that encourage visitors to explore and reflect.
Conservation
After receiving approval from Congress and then-President Donald Trump, the foundation completed the purchase of the land for the library from the U.S. Forest Service in 2022. The land is located near Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Roosevelt's famous Elkhorn Ranch.
The building is designed to be able to live off the land, just like Roosevelt did.
The project's website states that, just as “through his action, passion and foresight, Roosevelt ushered in a new era of conservation and stewardship of America's natural landscape,” the library's design “will reflect and expand on these values , establishing a new ambitious project.” standard in environmental conservation and sustainability leadership.
The foundation is using local contractors and building the library with materials that will allow the building to minimize waste and emissions as well as water and energy consumption.
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The building has an earthen roof that curves with the neighboring mound. The land and roof will be made up of native plants and grasses to help restore the biodiversity of the region which has been degraded over time.
Instead of disrupting the sloping, grassy “burning hills” of North Dakota, the library design team from American-Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta envisioned a building that would blend naturally into the landscape. The building has an earthen roof which curves with the neighboring mound. The land and roof will be made up of native plants and grasses to help restore the biodiversity of the region which has been degraded over time.
Images shared exclusively with Fox News Digital by the foundation show that the interior of the library is already taking shape. Natural light streams from the glass ceiling panels, coloring a set of already completed massive adobe walls, composed of a mixture of gravel, sand, silt and clay.
A photo first shared exclusively with Fox News Digital shows a set of already completed massive adobe walls, made from a mixture of gravel, sand, silt and clay. (Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation)
Directly across from the library will be a large circular hiking trail surrounding the butte with several unique viewpoints along the way that will encourage visitors to explore and reflect.
A new chapter
The library is scheduled to open on July 4, 2026, America's 250th anniversary and the Declaration of Independence.
Theodore Roosevelt V, great-great-grandson of the 26th president and ally of the project, said through the library: “North Dakotans have secured a legacy not only for their state but also for our nation and the world.”
The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library will be located in the North Dakota Badlands, where the famous president went from New York City man to legendary rough rider. (Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation)
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But beyond North Dakota, Roosevelt said all Americans can be inspired by the continuing legacy of his great-great-grandfather.
“My great-great-grandfather’s legacy of citizenship, leadership and conservation is as relevant today as it was at the height of his presidency,” he said in a statement published on the library website. “When you focus on people interested in solutions rather than divisive rhetoric, it becomes clear that there is much more that unites us than divides us – just as there was at the turn of the 20th century.”
Theodore Roosevelt standing at a podium, pointing to the crowd during a campaign rally speech. California. 1900s. (Getty Images)
“Like Theodore Roosevelt, a man of paradoxes – Republican and progressive, crusader against monopolies and capitalists, hunter and conservationist, partisan and rogue independent – our country is made up of many different things. Finding the commonalities among them could well be the key to America's future.”