MANDAN Historical Society

Working to Preserve & Promote Mandan's Heritage since 2004

Welcome

Membership

Activities

Ag Stn Centennial

History Harvest

TR-Coe Exhibit

WWII Exhibit

Museum & Office

Area History

Book: "Mantani"

The 1880s

Mandan Rodeo / Fair

School System History

The 1890s

The 1900s

1901 Pan Am Expo

1903 TR Visit to NDak

The 1910s

1910 Spring Flood

1911 Fair & Airplane Demo

1912 TR Whistle-Stop

The 1920s

Prohibition in Mandan

Mail Order Kit Homes

The 1930s

FDR Visit August 1936

The 1940s

The 1950s

1958 Lincoln Stamp FDC

Custer Drama / Trail West

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

1st of the 21st

2010-Present

Area Landmarks

Cary Bldg - Mandan Drug

CCC Camp Chimney

Christ the King Church

Collins Av Civic Bldg

First Lutheran Church

First National Bank Bldg

First Presbyterian Church

Great Plains Academy

Great Plains Expermt Stn

Lewis & Clark Hotel

Mandan Hill

Mandan Theatre

MV Produce Warehouse

Methodist Church

NP Beanery

NP "Colonial" RR Depot

NPRR Freighthouse

NP Rail High Bridge

Roughrider Statue

St Joseph Church

WWar Memorial Bldg

Youth Correctional Center

Gone Forever

Central School

Collins Ave Courthouse

Cummins Building

Deaconess Hospital

Eielson Field

Emerson Inst/Opera House

First St Federal Building

Havana Club

Hotel Nigey

InterOcean Hotel

Liberty Memorial Bridge

Mandan Creamery & Produce

Mandan Flour Mill

Merchants Hotel

NP "Queen Anne" Depot

Original Passenger Depot

Palace Theatre

Peoples' Hotel

Rock Haven

Topic Theatre

Young's Tavern

Heritage Homes

Altnow-Smith Home

Dunlap-Harris Home

Ellis-Uden Home

Freeburg-Esser Home

Lyon-Weigel Home

McGillic Home

Olson-Brick Home

Parkins-Cooley Home

Stutsman-Wyatt Home

Swanson-Reichman Home

Welch-Ness Home

Endowment Fund

Genealogy Links

Biographies A-C

J D Allen

Franklin Anders

Richard Baron

James Bellows

George Bingenheimer

Margaret Bingenheimer

Philip Blumenthal

Elijah Boley

Frank Briggs

Leo Broderick

William Broderick

Frank Bunting

Lyman Cary

James Clark

Henry Coe

Viola Boley Coe

Daniel Collins

Elizabeth Custer

George Custer

Biographies D-L

Alice Dahners

Henry Dahners

C E V (Charles) Draper

Esther Davis

Tony Dean

Joseph Devine

Ronald Erhardt

John Forbes

Palma Fristad

Gilbert Furness

Aloysius Galowitsch

Frederic Gerard

Zalmon Gilbert

Charles Grantier

James Hanley Jr

James Hanley Sr

Mary Harris

C Edgar Haupt

Michael Lang

William Langer

Albert Lanterman

William Lanterman

Richard Longfellow

Rolland Lutz

Hiram Lyon

Biographies M-R

George Marback

Gary Miller

Lee Mohr

Margaret Naylor

John Newton

Anton Ness

John Osterhouse

George Peoples

Arthur Peterson

Nels Romer

Hoy Russell

Walton Russell

Antonie Rybnicek

Ervin Rybnicek

Hynek Rybnicek

Biographies S-Z

Margaret Schaaf

George Shafer

Benjamin Shaw

William Simpson

Anna Knox Stark

Mary Stark

Benjamin Stephenson

J O Sullivan

John Sullivan

Era Bell Thompson

Andrew E Thorberg

Ida Thorberg

C L Timmerman

George Toman

Earle Tostevin

Edwin A Tostevin Sr

Edwin D Tostevin Jr

Walter Tostevin

Felix Vinatieri

A B Welch

Levon West

Frank Wetzstein

Harry Wheeler

Philomena Yunck

View Collections

Artifacts - Miscellanous

Newspapers

Pottery and Glass

Photos - Buildings

Photos - Downtown

Photos - Floods

Photos - People

Photos - Rail and Trains

What's New

Grooving through the Sixties 1960-1969
1960
Mandan experienced a resurgence of civic service, with a record number of fraternal and service clubs and members, evident in the number and size of New Year parties at the downtown Elks building, the Moose Home, Knights of Columbus (KC) Hall, American Legion Hall, Veterans of Foreign Wars Club, Eagles Club.  The Revelers Club celebrated at the Mandan Country Club.

After several prior attempts, the citizens of Mandan in a margin of almost two to one approved the move to Central Standard Time on a year round basis starting May 15.

A record-breaking 74⁰F on March 28 hastened the breakup of the ice on the Missouri River on April 5. A huge ice jam on the Heart River resulted in water backing up over Highway 10 to a depth of two feet, forcing the closure of floodgates and stopping all traffic to Bismarck. With more than 400 Republican conventioners staying in Mandan, the Northern Pacific Railway came to the rescue by adding a half dozen special commuter trains between Mandan and Bismarck to transport the delegates to and from the convention center.

A new gymnasium and more classrooms were added to Mandan's Senior High School building's north side. The gym in the $290,000 structure seats more than 2,000 people for basketball games and includes storage areas and complete athletic facilities including showers, lockers, etc.

1961
With the stay-at-home mom the norm, Morton County boasted no less than five homemakers clubs including the Rock Haven Homakers Club, Almont Homemakers Club, Fort McKeen Club, Big Bend Homemakers Club and the Highland Homemakers Club.

1962
Mandan elected its first woman to the City Commission in April.  Mrs. Dolores Pierce joined incumbent Mr. George Schantz who successfully won re-election.

1963
Six community civil defense shelters were established in Morton County, including four within Mandan's city limits in April.  The fallout shelters were established in the basement of the Lewis and Clark Hotel, the Mandan Creamery, St. Joseph School, and the Courthouse.  Black Motor Sales in New Salem and Hebron Motors, Inc. of Hebron hosted sites for rural areas of the county.  Each shelter would hold up to 1,100 people.  Cartons of rations, sanitary and medical supplies were stored there, courtesy of the Department of Defense.

Civil Defense Logo
1964
Direct Distance Dialing came to Mandan in July.  A $1.5 million upgrade to the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company brought 7-number dialing to the city, the month after the same service started in Bismarck.  The system replaced three and four number telephone numbers in use prior to that time.  "663" was the first exchange prefix used in Mandan.

1965
In February, firefighters battled for 3 hours to extinguish a major fire at the site of the historical Merchant Hotel located at 106 East Main St.  The fire started in the basement, and quickly spread to both adjacent commercial buildings due to high winds. At the time, its was home to Ray's Bootery, owned and operated by Ray Mosbrucker.  Other involved businesses included Seb's Shoe Repair and the vacant / former Friesz Grocery building.

Interstate 94 was completed including the second river crossing via the Grant Marsh Bridge.  Like in most North Dakota cities, traffic was diverted off Main Street / ND Highway 10. The downtown central business district on both sides of the river would eventually be suffer with the migration of retail stores to stand alone shopping centers or commerical areas along interstate routes.
1966
North Dakota experienced the "Storm of the Century" from March 2 to March 4 when a late spring blizzard struck the state.  Over 22 inches of snow fell on the area.  The Mandan Pioneer ran a special souvenir edition of the event. 
'66 Blizzard Souvenir Edition
 
The era of railroad steam engines took another step into the past when demolition experts blasted down the 165-foot high chimney in the Mandan railyards.  The reinforced concrete chimney built for steam engine boiler drafting in 1928 by the Heine Chimney Company was toppled with dynamite by the same company.

1967
Work was completed in January on the relocation of the Mandan to Flasher main line Northern Pacific railroad track.  The $10 million (77.3 million 2016$) project included the installation of over 40 miles of track by two work teams,  with the completion point near Fallon. Work was started on the project in September 1965.  The US Army Corps of Engineers initiated to project to move it away impacts of Lake Oahe. The old track which meandered along the Cannonball and Missouri River for 67 miles will now be shorter by 22 miles.  The original track was abandoned that spring.

Suffering through one of the most severe droughts in recent history, local farmers saw crop yields drop by about a third compared to typical yields.

The MHSoc's museum and office is located at 3827 30th Avenue NW; PO Box 1001; Mandan, ND 58554
Contact us at info@mandanhistory.org


Last Updated 03/28
/23    ©  2007-2023  Mandan Historical Society   All rights reserved