Construction has begun on the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
"If you're in Medora right now, you'll see an active construction site," said Library CEO Ed O'Keefe.
The site is adjacent to the Medora Musical Ampitheatre. O'Keefe says construction began June 15.
"Topsoil is 65 percent complete," O'Keefe said. "Next we will focus on the east wall of the east wing, and by March or April, you'll begin to see steel beams and timber delivered to the site."
The plan is to open the Library July 4, 2026 — the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
O'Keefe said the Library will reflect all of Roosevelt's legacy.
"To understand not just the good decisions, but the bad ones," O'Keefe said. "To contextualize some of what he did in his time — not to excuse it, but to humanize, not lionize, a great American figure."
O'Keefe said it makes the Library more about the future than about the past.
A controversial statue Roosevelt — which stood outside the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and was shipped to the TR Library Foundation — will not be displayed immediately when the Library opens in Medora. 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.
"We have no plans to publicly display it, either as a part of the library's interpretive experience or anywhere, in the next few years," O'Keefe said.
O'Keefe said the statue hasn't been "properly contextualized." He said that may be a future opportunity.
"There may be an opportunity to confront that 'history is hard,' and what are the lessons you can derive from it," O'Keefe said. "It may present an opportunity to have one of those hard conversations about history and our future together."
