By Gus Saltonstall
On a cold night in January of 2022, the controversial “Equestrian Statue of President Theodore Roosevelt,” by James Earle Fraser, was taken down and hauled away from its spot on the Upper West Side in front of the American Museum of Natural History, where it had stood since 1939, greeting visitors to the museum.
For years, critics of the statue had argued that the piece of art conveyed an image of subservience, racism, and colonization, and did not align with the American Museum of Natural History’s mission. The statute depicts Roosevelt on horseback, towering over a Native American and a Black man, who are half clad and on foot.
The Roosevelt family, the museum, and then-Mayor Bill de Blasio all supported the removal of the bronze sculpture, but the question arose, where would the statue would go?
The answer? North Dakota.
The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library was in the process of being built in Medora, North Dakota, at the time, where the statue would be sent on a “long-term loan.”
On July 4, 2026, the $450 million presidential library honoring Roosevelt opened after years of construction. Missing from the opening and many exhibits included in the new library though? The former Upper West Side statue of Roosevelt.
West Side Rag reached out to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library for more information.
“We took possession of the statue after the exhibits and building were conceived and due to the size and weight there was not place in the building for it to reside on display for opening,” Matt Briney, the chief communications officer of the library, wrote to the Rag in an email.
Briney continued that there would be a “breather moment” in the aftermath of the opening, before the library’s council of historians and community voices would “begin to develop a plan for the statue.”
“The board of the TR Library believes the Equestrian Statue is problematic in its composition,” a press release said. “The agreement with the City allows the TR Library to relocate the statue for storage while considering a display that would enable it to serve as an important tool to study the nation’s past.”
In terms of where exactly the statue was being stored or if any photos were available, that was top secret information.
“For security reasons we’re not willing to release photos of where the statue is stored,” Briney wrote. “However it is in our museum-level climate controlled storage facility in North Dakota.”
He added that updates would be provided as plans for the former Upper West Side statue developed.
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Ah yes another reminder of the peak Woke moral panic that drove scores of people into Trump’s coalition. Good times.