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

World War Memorial Bldg - 300 1st St NW
Intended as Mandan's second community center, the World War Memorial Building was constructed at a cost of $125,000 ($2.2 million in 2015 dollars). At the dedication, ND Supreme Court Justice A. M. Christianson declared the building "a living memorial, a daily tribute to our men who our men who gave their lives in the great World War."

... early 1940s photo
... as a 1940s linen postcard
The three story structure was 121 feet by 130 feet with one of the finest auditoriums in the state on the second floor.  With room to seat 3,000, the 60 by 104 foot room had two balconies and included a full stage and lighting.  It could was also configured as a full-size basketball court or alternately serve as a dance floor.   Another spacious auditorium existed on the lower floor, plus rooms for the American Legion, showers and dressing rooms for both athletics and dramatics.  A meeting room was also provided for the American Legion, plus other areas for smaller gatherings such as Girl and Boy Scouts and other similar organizations. The largest indoor swimming pool in the state, with water automatically maintained at an even temperature and automatically purified."

The swimming pool, 75 feet long and 35 feet wide, was at the time also the only municipally owned indoor pool in North Dakota. It was the largest indoor pool in the state for several decades after its construction. The shallow end was 2 1/2 feet deep and included a wading pool in one corner.  The pool's depth sloped to 8 feet at the opposite end.

The Memorial Building boasts an Art Deco poured concrete design with brick veneer popular for large public buildings in the 1920s and 1930s. Art Deco architecture is also featured in the decorative tiles on the nearby Lewis and Clark Hotel.

A block of Indian limestone weighing 1290 pounds was installed over the second story window, directly above the main door of the structure. The stone block bears the reverse relief inscription "World War Memorial."  Originally the stone was installed over a central southside window seven feet wide and fourteen feet high.
Construction of the building began in 1932 during "The Great Depression" with Federal funds as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project.  The first floor and indoor swimming pool was opened in October 1934 amongst a four day celebration with over 4000 people from both Mandan and Bismarck participating.  Events included musical entertainment by the Mandan Men’s Chorus and the high school orchestra, swimming and diving contests, lifesaving demonstrations, water stunts, a carnival and a bathing suit style show but the building was formally dedicated in September 1936.

Construction would resume in January 1936 to add the second and third floors a a cost of $34,000 ($530,000 in 2010 dollars). The project would include finishing the interior of the second floor, and the addition of a third floor including the construction of a stage and dressing rooms and the basketball floor. Its auditorium with stage would host various conventions plus sporting and social events. Community kitchens and meeting rooms were included in the building, which would not be finished until 1937.

The building has served many purposes during its lifetime including hosting the Morton County Administrative offices and courthouse after the Collins Avenue Courthouse burned in a spectacular fire on May 13, 1941. It served in that capacity until 1956 when Morton County built and opened a new office building and courthouse. It would also serve as the headquarters for Company A, 131st Engineers Combat Battalion of the ND National Guard until a new Armory was later built north of the Mandan High School.

The
first "public" library opened in the basement, in the southeast corner of the building in March 1939.  A 99 year-lease was signed by the county at no cost, but utilities to be paid by the library funds on the guarantee the facility would be open at least 2 nights a week and supply a free reading room while open.  Up to that point in time, the library was not free, but operated on a subscription basis. Morton County's library remained there until 2008 when voters approved its merger with the Mandan City Library in its current location on Main Street.

... and as it appeared in 2007
The building was later retrofitted with a modern air conditioning system, including the elimination of several windows on its south face and replacement of the remaining windows.

The building is among four area government structures constructed to recognize military veterans of World War I.  The Liberty Memorial Bridge (which was replaced in 2008), the Liberty Memorial Building (current ND State Library on the state capitol grounds) and Bismarck's World War Memorial Building also honor these servicemen and women.

Today, the building houses the City of Mandan Administrative offices, including the water department, which is appropriately located over the former swimming pool. The pool was filled in the late 1960s after continued problems with the water treatment system and a new larger outdoor public pool was constructed at a site near Custer School in east central Mandan.

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