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

Earle Herbert Tostevin (1889-1933)
Earle Herbert was born in Racine, Wisconsin on November 18, 1889 to Edwin A. and Florence G. (Clemmons) Tostevin.  He was the middle of three sons which included older brother Walter and younger bother Edwin, Jr.   In 1909, his father moved the family from Racine to Mandan and purchased the local newpaper, The Mandan Pioneer.  Only 20, Earle was not yet experienced enough to assume a major role at the paper.  At the time, the Pioneer was also only a weekly publication and was not large enough for two editors.  Earle went to work for the Grand Forks Herald , but rejoined the family business at the Pioneer in 1912.  He had many friends and interests and enjoyed being an eligible bachelor.

It was 1917 and Earle was inducted into the Army.  At the same time, the Grand Forks Herald hired him a "war correspondent" to write a column for their paper.  He also sent letters home which were published in the Mandan Pioneer.  He was very good at writing pieces that were interesting and frequently gave news of North Dakotans serving overseas.  His talent was getting his articles past the censors while retaining a real flavor of the war and foreign places.  He usually started his columns with "Somewhere in France... "

After receiving a medical disability, Earle was able to convince his superiors that he was a much better newspaperman than a soldier.  Even the US Army's censor recommended him.  He was reassigned to the Stars and Stripes (the Army's official publication) as a columnist and censor until the end of the war.

Earle returned to Mandan and assumed the editorship of the Pioneer.  With his war correspondent credentials became very influential regionally in the news business.  He served as chairman and other positions in professional news organizations for both the State and the region.

In 1925, Earle married Agnes Olson who was his father’s personal assistant.  Agnes had come straight out of secretarial school to work at the Pioneer.  Tostevin Senior always referred to her as his “right hand”.  Agnes was an intelligent, witty woman and together, she and Earle were active in the Mandan social scene.  Earle was nationally known for his prize-winning gladioli and served a term as the president of the National Gladiolus Society.  They built a home and landscaped it to focus on their beautiful gardens.

Friends and family were stunned when Earle suddenly died at the age of 43 on August 20, 1933.  A tremendous out-pouring of articles and editorials in regional and national newspapers mourning the loss of such a talented writer and editor.  Earle was also known for his verse and he called himself “a Hoosier poet”.

Agnes continued to work at the Pioneer in an administrative capacity until the business was sold in 1963.  She lived at their home on 6th Avenue until her death in 1969.


The Society would like to thank members James and Patricia Tostevin for  sharing this information with us

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