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

Hotel Nigey aka McDonald Hotel - 120 3rd Ave NW
Frank L. Nigey built three-story brick hotel in 1906 targeting the "luxury" market then served only by the InterOcean Hotel located one block closer to the Northern Pacific Railway depot.  Built in electrical utilities and hot and cold running water piped to all rooms.  Common bathrooms provided on every floor.  Local and long distance telephone service available on-site. 
Advertisement in 1906 Mandan Souviner Book
Click to Enlarge - Ad in 1906 Mandan Souviner Book
The original building had one front and back row of rooms running parallel to Third Avenue NW, but it's success would prompt an expansion over twice its original size.

The expanded building would house the city's first telephone exchange starting in June 1917, which was headquartered off its First Avenue NW entrance plus basement area.  The building also housed Dahner's Music Store and in 1920 was the location of Mandan's first J. C. Penney's store from 1920 to 1928 operated by D. C. Mohr.

1923 Looking North From Main St Down 3rd Ave NW
1940 City Cafe Ad
Rate for the hotels in Mandan in 1910 ran from $1.00 a night at the Hotel Mandan (located 5 blocks west of the railway depot on East Main Street) to $1.50 a night at the Dakota Hotel and Merchants Hotel. The InterOcean and Nigey Hotels commanded $2.25 and up for nightly accommodations.

The
City Cafe provided food service to guests as well as downtown business patrons. The restrauant was operated in 1939 through the end of 1941 by L.S. Schaff. In January 1941, the space was remodeled including horsechoe counter and reopened under the moniker of Stein's Eat Shop by Eddie Stein.

After the deaths of the Nigey's, the hotel was sold in 1929 to Frank Wetzstein and former Morton County sheriff Charles McDonald.  It was operated it as the McDonald Hotel. Fred Sommerfield would buyout McDonald's interest after McDonald's death.  The Palace Theatre, owned and operated by partner Frank Wetzstein, was located in the adjacent lot to the south.

The building was destroyed in a fire in April 1967.  The fire was first reported by the patrions of the Corner Bar, then located in the basement of the northwest corner of the building.  The fire broke out at approximately 10 PM coincident with the city's annual Firemans' Ball which was being held at the Elks' Club one block away.  By then, the telephone exchange operated now by Northwestern Bell had been relocated across the street to a new larger building.  Tenants of the building at the time included the Greyhound Bus Depot, Baumstarck Pfaff Sewing Center, the Mandan Credit Bureau and the offices of optometrists A. L. Larson and Michael Riisager in addition to the 54 rooms operated by the hotel on the top two floors.

The
building was razed and converted into a parking lot, which currently serves customers of the Mandan branch of Wells Fargo Bank.

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