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

Philomena [Knaus] Yunck (1854-1925)

Philomena was born to French immigrants John and Magdalena (Criqui) Knaus on August 12,1854 in Buffalo, NY. By 1860, the Knauses settled in Stearns County, MN by way of Iowa. Henry was born to Joseph and Elizabeth (Bruining) Yunck in 1855 in Taos, Missouri.  By 1865, their family also moved to Stearns County.  Eventually, Philomena and Henry met and married on August 9, 1873. Their first child Marie was born in 1874.

The young couple moved to Bismarck, Dakota Territory in 1878 and operated a boarding house at the Bismarck steamboat landing.  Lodging was in short supply with the start of construction of the Missouri River bridge for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Philomena cooked meals for the bridge building crew and Henry worked as a laboror on the landing.  And their second child Joseph was born.


They crossed the Missouri River in 1879 and started a new business in the new city of Mandan.  By January of 1880, the Yuncks celebrated the grand opening of the Merchants Hotel situated across the street and just down the block from the first Northern Pacific Railroad depot (located at the T-intersection of today's Main Street and Collins Avenue.)

1883 Stoner City Line Sketch - Mandan DT
Theordore Roosevelt was a familiar figure at the hotel in the early 1880s. Philomena had also cooked meals for the Marquis De Mores. In 1883, De Mores was jailed behind the hotel awaiting trial for murder. Philomena would often take in immigrants; feeding them and giving them rooms.

Henry would eventually become one of the first city councilman and a well respected business man. In 1883 the third child, a son named John, was born. Dealing with lingering effects of tuberculosis (refered to at the time as "consumption"), he died in 1884. As members of St. Joseph Catholic Church, he and his 10-year old daughter Marie are likely buried in (now) unmarked graves in Old St. Joseph's Cemetery northwest of Mandan or possibly Greenwood Cemetery south of Mandan.

The pioneer business and two small children were left in the hands of Henry's widow, Philomena.

Henry Otto Yunck
Henry's brother Herman was born in 1855.  He came to Mandan in 1878 from Minnesota with the rest of the family.  He had worked for D.R. Taylor and the NP Railway, came to Philomena's aid and assisted with the daily activities of running the hotel.

As was common to the time, the younger brother took on the responsibility for an older brother's family.  On November 18, 1886, Philomena and Herman were married.

Herman Yunck
In addition to running the hotel with his wife, Herman was one of the founders of the volunteer fire department and led the Mandan Fire Department's Hook & Ladder Company. Herman suffered from a heart ailment for 15 years and passed away in November 23, 1913.  

In total, Philomena would be mother to seven (7) children including Marie Catherine {1874-1884}, Joseph Henry {1878-1951}, John {1882-1948}, Theresa Agnes {1887-1921}, William B {1889-1929}, Wilhelmina {1891-1964} and Katharina {1893-1969}.

Philomena continued to operate the hotel until 1920 with help from her daughter Minnie (Yunck) Block, wife of Polish immigrant Emil Block.  Her son-in-law subsequently opened a class tailor shop in the front of the building and the building then operated as a boarding house.

Philomena passed away on November 24, 1925.  She is buried beside her second husband Herman Yunck in Mandan's Union Cemetery.

As denoted in ND State Historical Society records compiled by the ND Federation of Women's Clubs between 1929-1932 for the ND Pioneer Mother Project (which were typically written by a family member), Philomena's entry concludes "Her death was a general breakdown due to age. Mrs. Yunck was a kind mother to many a plainsmen, and her advice was a turning point in many lives. This kindly woman pointed the way to higher ideals and success to many struggling souls."

The Society would like to thank Laine and Laura Pope for sharing information on her great grandparents 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