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History · Medora

Medora’s post office opened in 1883, and 6 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Medora was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1970 on, and the census since 1960.

1883first post office
6on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Medora’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Medora began

When was Medora founded?

1883

The Medora post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Comba (1880), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 133 in 19602020 census: 121143 years
Founding year: the first Medora post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Medora’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Landmarks on the Register6 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Medora’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Medora’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMedora1: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

6 historic places in Medora

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
6
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
8
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
De Mores Packing Plant Ruins
De Mores Packing Plant RuinsChateau de MoresVon Hoffman HouseSt. Mary's Catholic Church, built 1884Billings County CourthouseDe Mores Memorial Park, built 1938
BuildingsSites
De Mores Packing Plant RuinsSite
Chateau de MoresBuilding
Von Hoffman HouseBuilding
St. Mary's Catholic ChurchBuilt 1884
Billings County CourthouseBuilding
All 6 listings
De Mores Memorial ParkSite · listed 2019

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Medora came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Medora.

Read it all →

Medora was founded in 1883 along the transcontinental rail line of the Northern Pacific Railway by French nobleman Marquis de Mores, who named the city after his wife Medora von Hoffman. Marquis de Mores wanted to ship refrigerated meat to Chicago via the railroad. He built a meat packing plant for this purpose and a house named the Chateau de Mores, which became a museum.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Medora, 1876 to 1970

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1876In the archiveMedora1
  3. 1880Post officeThe Comba post office opens
  4. 1883Post officeThe Comba post office closes
  5. 1883Post officeThe Medora post office opens
  6. 1884BuiltSt. Mary's Catholic Church is built
  7. 1890In the archiveRoosevelt's Cabin on Ranch near Medora, North Dakota, where he lived from 1883 to 1886
  8. 20th century
  9. 1902In the archiveAntoine Morès-A 02
  10. 1938BuiltDe Mores Memorial Park is built
  11. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Medora, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s–1900s4 items
Medora1c. 1876Medora1Roosevelt's Cabin on Ranch near Medora, North Dakota, where he lived from 1883 to 18861890Roosevelt's Cabin on Ranch near Medora, North Dakota,…Antoine Morès-A 021902Antoine Morès-A 02Log cabin on the Chimney-Butte Ranch near Medora, N.D., the home of President Roosevelt, 1883-841904Log cabin on the Chimney-Butte Ranch near Medora, N.D…
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Medora on the map, 1970 to 1997

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Medora. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Medora on the 1970 USGS mapMedora on the 1980 USGS mapMedora on the 1997 USGS map1970Medora sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Medora.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Medora1
Retake this viewMedora1, c. 1876

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Medora’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Medora, census by census

01001960198020002020Peak: 133

Between 94 and 133 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Medora’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Medora

Nobody well known was born in Medora itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
K
Kellan LutzAmerican actor and model · b. 1985
Byron DorganAmerican author, businessman, and politician · b. 1942
Kelly M. ArmstrongGovernor of North Dakota since 2024 · b. 1976
Dorothy StickneyBroadway actress · b. 1896
M
Malachi RitscherAmerican musician · b. 1954
M
Mitch MalloyAmerican musician · b. 1961
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Medora’s post office has been open since 1883. Another post office, Comba, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Comba
1880–1883
Medora
1883–today
18801950today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Medora’s history

What year was Medora founded?

The Medora post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Medora?

6 listings: 4 buildings and 2 sites. 8 historic buildings in all.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.