Now a prized summer tourist destination, the town of Medora, North Dakota was established in April 1883 by an adventuresome, eccentric 24-year-old French nobleman, the Marquis de Morès. He named the remote land after his wife, Medora von Hoffman, the daughter of an affluent New York City banking family.
The Marquis de Morès, Chateau de Morès Historic Site
In 1883, the French patrician Marquis de Morès came to the Dakota Territory with the goal of striking it rich in the cattle business. He hoped to set up the commercial headquarters of a gigantic meat processing and shipping venture. This operation would utilize refrigerator cars on the Northern Pacific railroad to haul the meat to Eastern buyers.
The Marquis invested mightily in his grandiose plan, acquiring huge tracts of land and numerous herds of cattle, and employing throngs of cowboys, ranch hands, and railway workers. For three years Medora teemed with development and expansion; the de Morès family constructed houses, businesses, cattle and sheep ranches, the Medora-Deadwood Stagecoach line, and a Catholic church, St. Mary's of the Badlands.
With the proceeds from these enterprises, the Marquis’s built a rustic, upper-class 26-room summer residence that his neighbors dubbed “the chateau.” By the fall of 1886, however, de Morès' meat-packing business had failed. After its collapse he sold the ranch and all other possessions in the Badlands. It was estimated that the Marquis had lost as much as $1,500,000 on his ranching and business ventures.
Chateau de Morès Historic Site
The Chateau de Morès was retained by caretakers until 1936 when the de Morès family gave the Medora properties to the state of North Dakota. A gem of Medora’s past, the Chateau de Morès is a two-story frame building built in 1883. The house museum contains many of the original items and personal belongings – including hunting rifles, equipment, and trophies – of the de Morès family. Rooms include the Marquis library and study, which presents a grand modern-day view of the former meatpacking spot. Attractive furniture, antiques, musical instruments, oriental carpets, and other fixtures were enjoyed by the hosts and their wealthy, colorful guests, including future U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt, who famously hunted and adventured in the Dakota Badlands.
The family used the seasonal lodge for three years, returning to New York during the winters. After the Marquis commercial ventures floundered, the family rarely visited Medora. De Morès Memorial Park and a statue of the Marquis recall his legacy. The meatpacking plant was destroyed by fire in 1907; its brick chimney and stone remnants can be seen east of the Little Missouri River, part of what is now called Chimney Park.
(Sources: Medora Chamber of Commerce, North Dakota Historical Society.)
Brian D'Ambrosio - Brian D'Ambrosio is the author of more than 500 published articles and seven books, including From Haikus to Hatmaking: A Year in the Life ...
