Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library crosses construction milestone

Ed O’Keefe, CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, speaks during a ceremony commemorating the placement of the last steel beam at the library in Medora on Aug. 14, 2024. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

MEDORA, North Dakota – The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library will produce its own heat and energy using geothermal sources.

The facility will emit zero carbon emissions, produce zero waste and serve as a catalyst for continued development in North Dakota’s scenic western border region.

And, as of this week, it’s halfway to completion.

“The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library will be one of the most sustainable museums in the world upon opening,” said Ed O’Keefe, the library’s CEO.

Donors, lawmakers and other dignitaries gathered Wednesday in Medora to celebrate the milestone of laying of the final steel beam into position, which marked the midpoint in the construction process.

“Theodore Roosevelt said, ‘Believe you can and you are halfway there.’ Folks, we are halfway there,” O’Keefe said during an on-site ceremony to more than 100 attendees.

The next goal for construction teams will be to beat the snow and frozen temperatures and enclose the structure by November so interior work can begin.

The library is scheduled to open to the public on July 4, 2026, to commemorate the country’s semiquincentennial.

“It’s going to be one of the 1,000 architectural wonders you need to see before you die,” O’Keefe said. “It’s really going to have a lot of significance for many different audiences.”

North Dakota ‘on a journey to create the best presidential library in the nation’

During the event, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said the beam placement was only the beginning of milestones for the presidential library.

“We’re on a journey to create the best presidential library in the nation,” Burgum said. “There’s 14 others, but this will be the best. This will have the biggest impact on generations to come.”

Burgum, along with first lady Kathryn Burgum and other visiting officials, signed the last steel beam before it was raised into position in what will become The Arena at the Roosevelt library, commemorating one of the 26th president’s famous speeches.

The governor noted another famous quote from Roosevelt, who said he would not have been president if not for his time in North Dakota.

“All that will come here will draw inspiration from that life that Roosevelt lived, the courageous and bold life, and … they’ll learn about his time that he spent here,” Burgum said.

U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said one his favorite parts about the library and its design is how it incorporates itself into the landscape of the Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

“This is so Roosevelt, right?” Cramer said. “So much of construction and development replaces nature with a structure. In this case, they’ve built a structure into nature and that tells the story of Theodore Roosevelt so beautifully and with such integrity.”

Cramer, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., spearheaded an effort to acquire the land and federal funding for the project across three different bills in Congress. One of the bills, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Act , would allocate $50 million to the project through the U.S. Department of the Interior and grant access for the library to display some of Roosevelt’s personal items that are housed at various federal agencies. The legislation was introduced in April .

Cramer said he’s hopeful the bill will be added to a continuing resolution to fund the federal government and appropriated by the end of the year. If not, he joked with Hoeven during the event that they may not come home for Christmas. He also added that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is from New York, Roosevelt’s home state.

“As long as he’s not bitter about North Dakota getting the project, he should help us preserve Theodore Roosevelt’s heritage,” Cramer said.

The library’s foundation has raised $320 million of a revised $450 million fundraising goal, O’Keefe said. Fundraisers are hopeful to add the federal $50 million to that total before the end of the year.

Joe Wiegand, a Theodore Roosevelt impersonator who stars in a one-man show in Medora, said he thinks the library will appeal to multiple generations.

“That really is the cornerstone of the Roosevelt experience,” Wiegand said. “It’s a family experience … it’s not just for guys in suits, it’s not just for historians, it’s for the families of this country and the families of the world who will come out and be inspired.”

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