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

Mandan Theatre - 210 W Main St
Frank Wetzstein, John Kennelly and Fred Sommerfeld as officers of the Palace Theatre Company  announced in March 1936 the addition of a new motion picture theater to Main Street.
 They purchased two lots in block 8 downtown previously occupied by the Orange Grocery and Conyne Jewelry. Site demolition began in April 1936. The new building included street-site store space on either side of the main entrance where Conyne Jewelry and the ND Power and Light Company (which later became part of MDU Resources, Inc.) relocated.

Facing south toward the street, the theater's ticket office was set behind the entrance lobby 14 feet by 40 feet long. The auditorium was 48 ft x 80 ft in size with a seating capacity of 650. Although the back of the theater is at street level, the floor slopes down to the recessed stage level which ensured full visibility of the main screen from every seat.
 
1936 Architect's Sketch
Mandan Mainstreet c. 1948
Originally opened as the Mandan Theatre, it was based on designs from similar movie theaters in Minneapolis area. 

Construction began on April 1 and opened in November 1936 featuring Shirley Temple in "Poor Little Rich Girl."

A giant neon sign dominated the front of the showhouse flashing the name "Mandan" in shades of black and red and green.  In the sign were 970 feet of neon tubing and 300 light bulbs.

A unique feature of the theater was a "crying room" in the balcony for parents with babies. The room had sound-proofed walls and thick plate glass windows so "mothers can still see the motion picture while Junior shouts his loudest."  The room was also equipped with its own loudspeaker.
The building underwent a $100,000 renovation and re-opened in November 1974 as the Showboat Cinema in 1974. The single-screen theatre was equipped with 412 seats. Two years later in an attempt to compete with the Kirkwood Plaza Multiplex and Dakota Theater multi-screen conversion in nearby Bismarck, space in the adjacent building was converted to a smaller 144 seat theater and opened as "Cinema II" and shared common ticketing and concession areas with the larger primary theater dubbed "Cinema I".
Showboat Cinema I & II c. 1982
The Showboat closed in early 1987.  However in May of that same year, Mid-Continent Theaters was awarded the bid to lease the building, remodeled it and reopenned it on June 1 as the Academy Theater.  Upgrades to the 400-seat Mandan show hall included an improved sound system, reconditioned seats and lobby. It operated as a discount movie theater, with admission only 99 cents to see second-run movies.

After its 
close the following year, ownership would change hands and host a franchise of Cici's Pizza buffet restaurant, but that too would close in about a year.  In 2004, the building would be aquired by the Mandan Remediation Trust and City of Mandan as part of project to remove groundoil which had been spilled to the groundwater table in the downtown area.

In 2007, the City of Mandan asked for proposals for redevelopment of several downtown properties.  Sandi and Scott McFall won the competition and the City sold the building for $1 to McFall Publishing.  The building was converted to a live-entertainment and dinner theater. The $500,000 renovation project started in March 2008 and Mysteria Theater opened in December. 

Mysteria Theatre Renovated Stage
The building was rewired, replumbed and refurbished including new lighting and sound systems.   Five coats of wax were troweled onto the walls and small pieces of glass shot into the black ceiling, creating a sparkling canopy above diners. The main room features four art deco lights from the original theater and seats 150-180 for dinner. The sloped floor from the original structure has been converted to level terraces stepping down to the 30-foot stage and its fiber-optic curtain, which once hung in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
Now featuring a complete kitchen and expresso and traditional bar, Mysteria Theater offered a live-entertainment and dinner theater shows to the Mandan-Bismarck area.

In September 2011, the business and building was sold.  Leveraging the Art Deco architectual style of the building, the restaurant's and bar theme was changed to the Roaring 20s and the business renamed "Chicago Place". The bar operated until March 2012 until it closed.

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