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

NP Railway "Colonial" Depot - 401 W Main St
After 40 years in operation, Northern Pacific's "Queen Anne" style passenger depot built in the Fall of 1882, the building started to show its age.  After a new depot was built in Bismarck, local business leaders lobbied the NP to replace Mandan's depot. 

A major fire in June 1920, caused by defective electrical wiring, destroyed the entire wood second story of the building including the offices of Western Union Telegraph, yardmaster, roadmaster and trainmaster. Temporary offices were set up in extra caboose cars parked on rail sidings.

Since the Railroad was loosing money at the time, it decided just to rebuild the second floor with a very plain design. After receiving a new coat of paint, the line would operate this depot until 1929.

In 1928, Chief Engineer Howard Stevens made a bold move and proposed replacing the existing lunchroom and depot with a series of 3 buildings based on a brick colonial design.  It was unlike any existing NP depot in the country. 

Despite also being presented with a more traditional NP depot design, the Board of Directors approved the new design.

Streetside View 1947 from photo by Leo LaLonde
For a bid price of $61,342 ($775,000 in 2010 dollars), the Steen Company of Grand Forks built the current depot. It was constructed just north of the old one. After the dedication in February 1930, the old depot and lunchroom were demolished and new tracks and a platform were built in its place.
Original Layout of Depot from 1931 NP Sketch - Top of Diagram is "Streetside" i.e. North
The building is one story high, built of red brick and is 34 feet wide and 156 feet long, including a 22-foot covered platform at the west end. The building originally was configured to include a general waiting room 32 ft x 30 ft, a women's rest room 13 ft x 26 ft, a smoking room 11 ft x 17 ft, a baggage room, 22 ft x 32 ft, an express room 32 ft x 30 ft; toilets, etc.  No basement was necessary as the steam for heat was initially furnaished from the nearby engine terminal power plant and subsequently by a steam boiler installed in the basement of "The Beanery" building built in 1928 as the food service concession to the west. 

The colonial design is brought out by columned porticos at each main entrance.  The effect is enhanced by the open balustrade that surmounts each portico and in the depot by the arched transoms of the two main entrances of the flanking windows.  An added feature of the depot is a cupola in the colonial design accented by and encircling balustrade.  The arched windows and broad fireplace chimney at one end of the lunchroom complete the effect.

Trackside View of Mandan's Railroad Depot and Beanery 1947 from photo by Leo LaLonde
Only the depot and beanery were built. The railway's management opted to move the offices destined for the third building to open space on the second floor in an existing freight house building.  The freight house was remodeled in the 1970's to serve briefly as a call center.  Today the freight building houses the Morton-Mandan Library on the main floor with a restaurant on the east side's second floor.

Trackside View of Depot August 1969
After the final passenger train service was terminated in 1979, buildings were turned over to the City of Mandan. In 1992, both the depot and beanery were remodeled and leased to area businesses.  In 1995, the Fort Lincoln Foundation moved into the building with both its administrative offices as well as its retail operation Five Nations Art Gallery. 

In September 2017, it started its latest chapter as home to a German-style beer hall and restaurant with the art gallery moving next door into the smaller former NP Lunchroom.

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