FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dee Linn (701) 623-4355 or Diane Rogness (701) 328-3508
April 14, 2008
GRAND OPENING OF NEW INTERPRETIVE CENTER AT
CHATEAU DE MORES SITE IN MEDORA SET FOR APRIL 25-27
MEDORA – Grand opening events for the new interpretive center at the Chateau de Mores State Historic Site in Medora is set for the weekend of April 25-27, featuring a variety a living history demonstrations and other special programs and events.
The new $2 million facility has been under construction since April 2006. The 8,600-square-foot facility includes a 2,000-square-foot permanent gallery and a 1,000-square-foot temporary gallery. The new interpretive center will remain open year-round, with a schedule adjustment during the winter months when the rest of the Chateau de Mores State Historic Site is closed.
The center is part of the 128-acre state historic site that interprets the enterprises of the Marquis de Mores, the French nobleman and entrepreneur who in the 1880s ran a cutting-edge meatpacking plant in Medora, the town he founded and named after his wife.
Grand opening events for Friday, April 25 will be highlighted with a special History Alive! event. Campfire stories with frontiersman and buffalo hunter Yellowstone Vic Smith will feature spine-tingling stories from the colorful memoirs of Vic Smith, as portrayed by actor/historian Arch Ellwein. The program will start in the glow of the campfire at the site of the Chateau de Mores Interpretive Center, beginning at 7 p.m. Mountain Time.
As a man involved with some of the Old West’s wildest events, the stories that Yellowstone Vic Smith will share in the campfire light will be colorful and graphic. Due to the content of the stories and the inherent danger of campfires this event is not suitable for the youngest children. It is recommended that parents use their best discretion and that children under eight not attend. The campfire stories will last about one hour. In case of inclement weather, the program will be moved indoors to the interpretive center’s temporary exhibits’ gallery. Visitors should wear clothing appropriate to the weather, and are also welcome to bring flashlights. There is no admission charge.
Other events April 25 include the spring meetings of the State Historical Board at the new interpretive center, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota Foundation Board at the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame. Both meetings will begin at 1 p.m.
Grand opening events for Saturday, April 26 begin with the interpretive center doors opening to the public at 9 a.m., and remaining open until 5 p.m. There will be free admission to the new center through Sunday, April 27. Activities Saturday include History Alive!performances by the Marquis de Mores (portrayed by Lance Rustand) and Medora, Madame de Mores (portrayed by Karen Nelson) at 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. (Mountain Time) in the traveling exhibit room and The Life of Madame de Mores, presented by Karen Nelson, at 1 p.m., in the traveling exhibit room. Nelson will present new information about Madame de Mores that she has discovered while researching documents at the Houghton Library at Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, including what caused her death in 1921.
Other activities Saturday include a ribbon cutting ceremony at 4:30 p.m., followed by a champagne reception in the new interpretive center; a wine and cheese tasting event at the Medora Community Center from 7 to 8 p.m., followed by Medora’s 125th Anniversary Costume Ball, with the Grand March beginning at 8:15 p.m., and the dance at 8:30 p.m. The costume ball will be hosted by the Medora Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Medora Chamber of Commerce. The ball marks the 125th anniversary of the founding of the town of Medora.
On Sunday, April 27, the interpretive center will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Beginning at 11 a.m., there will be a Living History Tour of the Chateau. During this tour, several characters from the staff of the Marquis and the Madame will be stationed throughout the house, including a cook, teacher, upstairs maid, cowboy, and waiter man/butler.
Overlooking Medora and the Little Missouri River, just below the Chateau itself, this impressive facility will explore the history and legacies of the Marquis de Mores, a French nobleman and entrepreneur who, from 1883 to 1886, ran a cutting-edge meatpacking plant and other businesses in the town he named after his wife, Medora. His family’s 26-room summer home includes thousands of original artifacts.
New interactive exhibits will expand the story of the Marquis and his family. A smaller-scale refrigerator car, along with the ‘Deadwood,’ an original stagecoach from the Marquis’ Deadwood and Medora Stage and Forwarding Company, will be a central part of the exhibit, Rails, Ranching, and Riches: The Marquis de Mores in Dakota. Young visitors can ride sidesaddle on a wooden horse and pretend to be Medora, Madame de Mores, or slide cow cutouts along a track to learn about the Marquis’ novel idea to ship dressed beef compared to the standard method of shipping of live cattle.
Besides the main exhibit gallery, the expanded interpretive center will include a second exhibit space, a larger gift shop, offices, ADA-accessible restrooms, and a multi-purpose room opening onto an outdoor patio. The smaller exhibit gallery will host the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit Between Fences this summer from June 24 through August 1, which is a partnership project with the North Dakota Humanities Council and the Billings County Museum, followed by an exhibit on North Dakota artist Einar Olstad, who was a pioneer artist from the Sentinel Butte area. The Art of Einar Olstad will be on display for two years, from August 6 through September 15, 2010.
The 2005 Legislative Assembly approved $1.1 million in bonding for the interpretive center expansion, with a match of $500,000 in federal transportation enhancement funds, for a total funding package of $1.6 million; another $150,000 was provided by the 2007 Legislative Assembly to help cover about $275,000 in additional unexpected construction costs after discovery that the center’s structure, built in 1972, was in worse condition than initially believed. The structural problems forced the demolition of the old building and construction of a new structure to take its place.
Beginning with its grand opening April 26, the new interpretive center will remain open year-round. Through Thursday, May 15 it will be open Wednesdays through Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mountain Time. Beginning May 16 through September 15, it will be open daily, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. Admission will be $7/adult, $3/child, ages 6-15, and children 5 and under will be admitted free. The new center will go to its winter hours’ schedule when the rest of the Chateau de Mores State Historic Site closes at the end of the business day September 15. Admission will then be half-price from September 16 through May 15.
Free admission to all sites administered by the State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND) is one of the many benefits for members of the SHSND Foundation. Others include a 15 percent discount on museum store purchases, and the quarterly publications North Dakota History and Plains Talk. To become a member, call the Foundation at (701) 222-1966 or visit the website at www.statehistoricalfoundation.com.
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Note: JPEG images of the interior and exterior and interior of the new Chateau de Mores Interpretive Center are available by contacting SHSND Communications and Education Director Rick Collin at (701) 328-1476 or e-mailing him at rcollin@nd.gov.
Schedule of Public Events for Grand Opening of the
New Chateau de Mores Interpretive Center April 25-27
(All times Mountain Time)
Friday, April 25
1 p.m. Spring meeting of the State Historical Board, Interpretive Center
1 p.m. Spring meeting of the State Historical Society of North Dakota Foundation Board, North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame
7 p.m. History Alive! Tales Around the Campfire featuring Yellowstone Vic Smith (portrayed by Arch Ellwein), Interpretive Center site
Saturday, April 26
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Interpretive Center’s doors open to the public; free admission
11:30 a.m. History Alive! program featuring the Marquis de Mores (portrayed by Lance Rustand) and Medora, Madame de Mores (portrayed by Karen Nelson), Interpretive Center
1 p.m. Life of Medora, Madame de Mores, including new information uncovered during research, Karen Nelson, Interpretive Center
3:30 p.m. History Alive! program featuring the Marquis de Mores (portrayed by Lance Rustand) and Medora, Madame de Mores (portrayed by Karen Nelson), Interpretive Center
4:30 p.m. Ribbon cutting ceremony in front of the Interpretive Center, followed by a champagne reception
7 to 8 p.m. Wine and cheese tasting event at the Medora Community Center
8:15 p.m. Grand March begins for Medora’s 125th Anniversary Costume Ball, Medora Community Center, followed by the dance at 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 27
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Interpretive Center’s doors open to the public; free admission
11 a.m. Living History Tour of the Chateau