A library for Theodore Roosevelt's presidential papers could be built on land near Theodore Roosevelt National Park/Public domain

Theodore Roosevelt, who grew into a man on the rugged frontier of the Dakota Territory and has a national park named after him in the state now known as North Dakota, very soon could have his presidential library located near the park.

The idea is not new. Back in April a roughly 60-acre grasslands site a bit south of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Medora, North Dakota, was picked as the preferred location for the proposed Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.  

While a site within the national park was considered, and favored by North Dakota's governor, consultants hired to analyze various sites deemed it too small, within the 100-year flood plain of the Little Missouri River, and possibly too expensive to acquire from the National Park Service.

Instead, the selection committee eyed a site about 1.5 miles south of Medoria that intersects with the Maah Daah Hey Trail, a 96-mile-long trail that runs across the Little Missouri National Grassland and touches all three units of the park. It also is located near facilities used for the popular Medora Musical.

Language buried (page 5,557 of the 5,593-page act) offers the library backers 93 acres owned by the U.S. Forest Service if they submit a written request for the land to the Interior secretary within one year of the act's enactment. However, the language also requires the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation to pay fair market value for the land, which would be determined by an appraisal.

The North Dakota Legislature offered a $50 million endowment for the project if $100 million in private donations could be raised for the library. That $100 million goal reportedly was reached this past October.