Rough Riders Hotel

George Fitzgerald’s success operating the Hotel de Mores led him in November 1884 to begin his own thirty-five-foot by eighty-foot two-story hotel, planned with brick veneer that was never added. Its first floor contained a bar room, office, dining room, and small rooms for wash and baggage, while above were sixteen sleeping rooms and a parlor. Fitzgerald opened the Metropolitan Hotel in February 1885, leased it to J.B. Walker in October, and regained it within months. As Medora declined, Fitzgerald secured a $3,000 loan from the Marquis for improvements, using the building as security, then left on the first train west to Seattle. After de Mores was forced to curtail his business activities in 1886, the Metropolitan Hotel closed. In 1901, J.J. Rozell reopened it under its original name and soon renamed it the Rough Riders Hotel, honoring former Medora ranchers and the men President Theodore Roosevelt led in the Spanish-American War. It remained in operation under successive owners until 1961, closing only briefly during World War II. Harold Schafer later purchased the building, which was disassembled, and in 1963 a replica replaced it. A 2008 renovation added a conference center and sixty-eight additional guest rooms.

Medora, North Dakota · United States