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

Great Plains Academy - 406 4th St NW
School Building as it appeared in 2016
Activity started in 1899 when the Mandan Board of Education set out to identify a suitable location and convince the voters to invest $15,000 ($450,000 in 2016$) for a new "Central School" to house the junior and senior high students as well as provide a new larger grade school for west part of the city.  The site selected was a 5 acre site located along the south foot of the bluff which spanned the north edge of the city.  The city was expected to grow north out from Main Street away from the railyard.  The voters approved.

Mandan Central School c. 1903
Eventually, a bell for the Central School was purchased by the school's alumni from a forge in Northfield, Michigan.  The massive 380-pound solid bronze bell was installed in the bell copula in 1914.

Over the years, more buildings were added to the site.  The first addition occurred in 1911 with the addition of new high school on the west edge of the lot. A new gymnasium was added in 1919.

The three-story brick "Central School" is the only building of a total of five built over the years at the site to be demolished.

1911 High School Addition (Note Central School to Left)
1934 New High School (Note Central School in Back)
In 1934, high school classes were transferred to a larger high school building designed in the Tudor / Gothic style popular at the time for education buildings.  It is this building which today serves as the main entrance to the complex.  Gilbert Horton, originally from St. Paul, Minnesota relocated to Jamestown in 1911 and eventually designed 254 different school buildings in North Dakota.  The new high school was constructed infront of the Central School.  The east-side building was then re-purposed as the junior high school while the additional space in the Central School building was assigned to the grade school.

The bell remained in the Central School cupola until the building was demolished in 1958 after the completion of the current Mandan Senior High School building.  The three-story east-side brick building became a grade school after relinquishing its role as Junior High School to the 1934 era former Senior High.  

In June 1958, the bell was relocated to a special pedestal outside in its front plaza. In 2016, when the complex was sold to a private investor, the bell was returned to the School District is currently on display in the Mandan Middle School.

In 2012, the school district sold the property to GPA LLC, led by Yegen Development. Yegen later donated the property to Spirit of Life Catholic Church after an attempted redevelopment project was unsuccessful. 

A project to renovate the building into 39-unit affordable housing project was taken up by the Commonwealth Development Corporation.  The housing project included eight three-bedroom units, 28 two-bedroom units and three one-bedroom units. Ancillary amenities include a wellness center, chapel, community room, outdoor playground and green space plus off-street parking.

On August 2, 2017, the State Historical Society of North Dakota announced the complex was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Buildings, sites or structures that are placed on the registry are part of a national program that identifies, evaluates and protects America's architectural resources. 

The complex, now referred to as "Historic Apartments on Fourth," opened as residental housing in December 2018.

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