MANDAN Historical Society

Working to Preserve & Promote Mandan's Heritage since 2004

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The 1880s

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FDR Visit August 1936

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1958 Lincoln Stamp FDC

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1st of the 21st

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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

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Olson-Brick Home

Parkins-Cooley Home

Stutsman-Wyatt Home

Swanson-Reichman Home

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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

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What's New

Frank Arlington Briggs (1858-1898)
Mandan is associated with four of the thirty-three men who have served as Governor of North Dakota; one started his career here (William Langer); one was born here (George Schafer); one died here (Joseph Devine) and one who moved here.

On September 15, 1858, Frank Arlington Briggs was the third of four children and the only son born to Sarah D. (Devoll) & Thomas Rice Briggs in Hennepin County, Minnesota.  Both parents were from Rhode Island.  His father was a prosperous carpenter, to a point Frank grew up among the advantages of domestic servants. His sisters included Sarah, Emily and Kate.

Briggs was educated in Minnesota. He worked as a printer and newspaper editor before coming to North Dakota and was prosperous enough to also engage domestic servants for his family. He and his wife, the former Nannie R. Meek (b. July 1858), were married on July 12, 1877 in Howard Lake, Minnesota. They moved to Mandan in 1881 where Briggs found work as a bookkeeper.

Frank Briggs went on to work in real estate and eventually received the appointment as postmaster for Mandan. He was elected as Morton County's treasurer in 1886 and served eight years. Briggs was also honored by the Masonic Lodge of North Dakota by being elected its Grand Treasurer in June 1891.  Briggs was elected to his first state-wide political office as North Dakota State Auditor in 1894. He had lobbied hard the Republician party to be renominated for the auditor's office, but was drafted to run for governor.

In 1896 at the age of 38, Frank Briggs was elected as the fifth Governor of North Dakota with 55.6% of the popular vote and succeeded Governor Roger Allin.  He understood the financial resources of the State and with his prior business and State Auditor experience, he was well prepared to administer its affairs.  During Briggs' administration, a general railway law was passed that regulated the transportation of passengers and freight.  A general revenue law was also passed. Many of its provisions had been suggested by Briggs.

During Briggs' brief tenure as governor, the North Dakota National Guard emerged as an experienced fighting force, and distiguished itself in the Philippine Insurrection. In the 19th century, the nation's military practice allowed for two typed of armies.  The first was the regular army which existed for peacetime duties.  During times of war, this army would be supplemented with volunteer citizen soldiers.  Without a strong central War Department, States bore the responsibility of raising this volunteer army in times of crisis.

Civilians would often organize companies of their own as in the Civil War. Governors could accept these ambitious volunteers, especially if they were politically or socially prominent. These "military entrepreneaurs" would be given a commission and go on to lead their followers to war.

On February 15, 1898, the battleship USS Maine exploded while moored in Havana, Cuba's harbor.  Tensions had been building for months.  Citing the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 and working to eliminate European influence in the western hemisphere, Congress demanded Cuba be granted independance on April 19. Spain reciprocated by declaring war on the US on April 23. The Spanish-American War had begun.

US Soldiers Leaving for Manila
Even before Congress passed mobilization legislation, Governor Briggs received requests from various individuals for commissions so that they may begin recruiting. The US War Department established Camp Briggs outside of Fargo as the muster point for the 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry.  While most of the main forces of the US Army were engaged in Cuba, the ND state militia was assigned to the Phillippine Island Expeditionary Force.  On June 28, the regiment departed for Manila.  While the Spanish-American War would end just months later, some in the Philippine Islands did not accept the terms of the surrender and sought indepandance for themselves.  The United States fought in a new engagment, known as the Philippine Insurrection, until 1899.  Ten North Dakotans, including Mandan resident Richard Longfellow and former resident Frank Anders, distingushed themselves in battle and would eventually receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Governor's residence interior circa August 1898
Frank Briggs died of tuberculosis on August 9, 1898 less than two years after his election. His unexpired term was completed by Lt. Governor Joseph M. Devine.

Funeral services were provided by Mandan's Masonic Temple and held at the Governor's residence.

Newspapers extolled his virtures for days after his death and was universally admired throughout the state.

Governor Frank and Nannie Briggs were the parents of 2 daughters Stella (b. April 1878) and Bessie (b. June 1880).  Nannie relocated to Tacoma City, WA after the death of her husband and moved in with her younger sister and brother-in-law Charles E. and Carrie E. (Meek) Smith. Her mother Nancy Pearson and youngest brother Westley also resided there at the time.

He was the first ND Governor to die in office.  Frank Arlington Briggs is buried in the family plot in Howard Lake Cemetery, Howard Lake, Minnesota.

Information on Governor Briggs' involvement on the establishment of the 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry Regiment was based on an article by Major Peter W. Conlin in the October 1999 100th Anniversary Special Edition of the North Dakota's National Guard's newsletter The Straight Arrow. 
 

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