Medora has always been a cattle town. Founded in 1883 by a French nobleman, the Marquis De Mores, Medora grew quickly. In short order, the Marquis a very colorful and controversial character had a meat packing plant, a brick plant, a hotel, and some retail shops up and running; he then built a large home overlooking the time that he dubbed the Chateau de Mores. Soon, however, the Marquis fell on financial hard times; in 1886 he went back to France never to return. That might have been the death knell for Medora; however, the town wasn't finished.
Theodore Roosevelt, at the time a young politician from New York, came to North Dakota to hunt buffalo in September of 1883. He was immediately smitten with the area and went into the cattle business, ultimately owning two large ranches'the Maltese Cross and the Elkhorn only a few miles from town. In 1901, Roosevelt called Teddy in the newspapers and four eyes' in a play about his life written many years later was elected President of the United States.
Today, the Marquis De Mores' famous homes Chateaus de Mores' is a state historic site and open to the public. Teddy Roosevelt's life and involvement with the Dakotas is memorialized in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
