Ruth Brubakken to preview Theodore Roosevelt library dedication in Jamestown

Ruth Brubakken used a Sunday afternoon talk at the Stutsman County Memorial Museum to connect Jamestown history fans with the coming Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opening in Medora. The free Front Porch Chat at 321 3rd Ave. SE gave residents a local look at why Roosevelt still shapes North Dakota’s public history, conservation debates and tourism calendar.

The museum, housed in the 1907 Lutz Mansion, is a fitting setting for that conversation. Its four floors hold pioneer, railroad, military, household, agricultural, medical and archaeological exhibits, and its Front Porch Chats have traditionally run Sundays at 2 p.m. from early June through the end of August. The site has also remained an active civic institution, including recent preservation work supported by a $2,000 Jamestown Community Foundation grant for mural restoration.

Roosevelt’s North Dakota story begins long before the new library in Medora. The National Park Service says he first came to the Dakota Territory in 1883, when most of the badlands land was still not privately owned. The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library’s timeline says he was 24 when he first visited the Badlands and later invested in the Maltese Cross Ranch, an experience that helped shape the conservation values that became central to his public life.

That legacy still reaches into the state’s park system. Theodore Roosevelt National Park was established as a national memorial park in 1947 and redesignated a national park in 1978. It covers 70,446 acres across the North Unit, South Unit and Elkhorn Ranch Unit, and it remains the only American national park named after a single person.

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is set to open July 4, 2026, in Medora, timed to America’s 250th birthday and North Dakota’s ND250 celebrations. Free tickets for the grand opening are available for July 4, while tours through the exhibit go on sale July 5 and beyond. Public shuttles are planned for July 2 through July 4, when Chateau Road will be closed to private vehicles, and state leaders have described the opening as one of North Dakota’s most significant tourism seasons.