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

Cummins Building aka Collins Building - 200 W Main St
In 1881, the "Tubbs & Cummins Clothiers" opened across the street from Mandan's Post Office on the 100 block of Ashurst Avenue (current First Avenue NW) in a two story wood building on west Main Street.  

In 1886, Theodore A. Cummins bought out Tubbs and brought in C. A. Granberry as partner and focused on selling shoes.  After Granberry’s death in 1890, store clerks Andrew E. Thorberg and J. H. Theis were brought into the firm.  A new larger brick building was built at the site in 1900 and with the larger space, they expanded into clothing and general merchandise.

Click to Enlarge
Cummins, Thorberg and Theis Storefront in 1900
The second story was added to the building four years in 1904.  The top level was devoted exclusively to ladies dresses and a millinery department; the basement level carried a complete line of dishes and children’s toys. The main floor featured a large selection of yard goods, a men’s department and shoes for all ages in the family.
While Theis' involvement with the store would be short lived, Thornberg would remain a partner for 16 years before selling his shares to Cummins' sons Robert B. and William T. Cummins. William would take over as store manager in 1924 after the death of his father and eventually bought his brother's share. Operation of the Cummins Department store remained in the family until it closed in late 1959.

1908 Main St Downtown Mandan
James Collins and several other investors as the J.E. Collins Company leased the building begining in June 1962 and completely remodeled the space.  The Collins Department Store would open in August 1962.  Collins would eventually purchase the building, and continue to operate the business until July 1985 until Golden became the major stockholder and manager.  However the store would close in January 1986.  The dropoff in business was attributed to a combination of the Expressway Bridge opening, giving easy access to Kirkwood Plaza shopping mall in south Bismarck in 1985; and the ground-oil plume discovered downtown in 1982.

Mandan Place Fall 2010
Site preparation and construction began in October 2009 on a new $3 million mixed-use building on that site and the adjacent 3 land parcels.  Completed in 2010, it consists of four stories; the 6,700 square foot ground level will be devoted to commercial property, while the top three floors hosts 28 one and two-bedroom apartments.

Dakota Commercial and Development Co./CRT Investments of Grand Forks re-developed the site. The city of Mandan sold the lot to the developers for $1 in 2008.

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