The Chateau de Mores in

Medora, North Dakota Medora is a city in Billings County, North Dakota, Billings County, North Dakota, United States. The only municipal corporation, incorporated place in Billings County, it is also the county seat. Much of the surrounding area is part of either Litt ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, is a historic home built by the

Marquis de Mores A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

in 1883 as a hunting lodge and summer home for his family and guests. The home is now part of the Chateau de Mores State Historic Site, which also includes Chimney Park and de Mores Memorial Park.

History

The

Marquis A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

was a French

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

who came to the Dakota badlands in 1883 to establish a new kind of

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

operation. He planned to slaughter and cold pack his cattle and ship it east in refrigerated rail cars. The

slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

was built in the town which the Marquis founded and named for his wife, Medora Marie Von Hoffman. Medora was named for her aunt, the second wife of

Samuel Cutler Ward Samuel Cutler "Sam" Ward (January 27, 1814 — May 19, 1884), was an American poet, politician, author, and gourmet, and in the years after the Civil War he was widely known as the "King of the Lobby." He combined delicious food, fine wines, and ...

. She was also the granddaughter of

John Randolph Grymes John Randolph Grymes (December 14, 1786 – December 3, 1854) was a New Orleans attorney, member of the Louisiana state legislature, U.S. attorney for Louisiana district, and '' aide-de-camp'' to General Andrew Jackson during the Battle of N ...

and his wife Suzette Claiborne, who was also the third wife of Gov.

William C.C. Claiborne William Charles Cole Claiborne ( 1773–1775 – November 23, 1817) was an American politician, best known as the first non-colonial governor of Louisiana. He also has the distinction of possibly being the youngest member of the United State ...

. He built many structures in the town for those he employed in his operations, including St. Mary's Catholic Church. For three years the small town bustled, but in 1886 the operation collapsed due to

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

, competition from meat packers back east, and the Marquis' own lack of business experience, and the plant was abandoned. The Marquis and his family returned to Europe, but left behind a small town rife with the flavor and romanticism of the

American Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

. The chateau was occupied seasonally by the family for only three years from 1883 to 1886. During the harsh winter months they would go to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, returning again in spring. After 1886 the Marquis visited the chateau twice, in 1887 and 1889, while Medora and their children visited only once more in 1903 after the Marquis' death, at which time she spent six weeks there. From this time on the house was maintained by caretakers. They would ready the house for occupation in the spring but the family never returned. The eldest son gave the caretakers permission to operate the chateau as a boarding house in 1921. During this period the house suffered from theft and lack of maintenance. The home and the land on which it sat was given to the state of

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

in 1936 on the condition that it be maintained and opened to the public. It was restored from 1937 to 1941 by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

and again in 1995.

Museum

The Chateau de Mores is currently operated as a museum by the

State Historical Society of North Dakota The State Historical Society of North Dakota is an agency that preserves and presents history through museums and historic sites in the state of North Dakota. The agency operates the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck, which serves as a hist ...

. It is open to the public with guided tours available. Its features include reproduced

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

s and

wallpaper Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so t ...

and authentic artifacts, along with period furniture. A permanent exhibit focuses on the Marquis de Mores, who built the house, and changing exhibit galleries include displays of art, culture and history.

Architecture

The chateau itself is a two-story 26-room wood-frame building. The house is not a true chateau but was given the name by locals. While rough by aristocratic standards it was considerably more luxurious than most contemporary homes built by Dakota settlers, which were mostly constructed of

sod Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls. In Australian and British English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', and the word "sod" is limited mainly to agricult ...

or logs.

References

Chateau de Mores - State Historical Society of North Dakota
ntonio Areddu, * Antonio Areddu, Vita e morte del marchese di Mores Antoine Manca (1858-1896), Cagliari, Condaghes, 2018 * Antonio Areddu. Il marchesato di Mores. Le origini, il duca dell´Asinara, le lotte antifeudali, l´abolizione del feudo e le vicende del marquis de Morès, Cagliari, Condaghes, 2011.

External links

- State Historical Society of North Dakota
City of Medora official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chateau De Mores Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Dakota Houses completed in 1883 History of the American West Historic house museums in North Dakota Museums in Billings County, North Dakota French-American history North Dakota State Historic Sites Houses in Billings County, North Dakota National Register of Historic Places in Billings County, North Dakota 1883 establishments in Dakota Territory

History

Museum

Architecture

See also

References

External links