The Cass Home
305 2nd Ave NW
This unique home was built in 1883 by contractor John Fogarty and B.J. Van Vleck. John owned and operated a railroad contractor company and built several homes in this section of Mandan.
He purchased the lots from the Northern Pacific Railroad, where he first worked as a contractor. He owned the property at 201 7th Avenue NW where the Dunlap home was built in 1882. He was also listed as the first owner of the property at 305 6th Avenue NW where the Parkins-Cooley home was built in 1910. It isn’t known for sure how many homes John was the first property owner of before the homes were built or how many he was responsible for helping to contract.
John was born in Canada, as was his wife Hannah. Together they had two daughters, Kittie and Nellie, who were both born in Mandan. This is the first home contracted and built in which the Fogartys actually took up residence. B.J. Van Vleck went on to become the register of deeds in 1882 and then the county auditor in 1885. B.J. remained active in the Mandan community and held several positions in the county.
The Fogarty family sold the home to Frank Cass, an engineer for the railroad, in 1912. Frank was born in 1858 and passed in 1917 at age 56. He is buried in Mandan. He left behind his wife, Charlotte, and a daughter, Grace, who married Gilbert Stem in 1928. They resided with Charlotte in her residence until the home was sold to Frank McCann in 1932. Frank was a furniture salesman at Kennelly Furniture Company. The home was then deeded to a Ms. Dina Douglas in 1997 and then later sold to Mr. and Mrs. Martin Green. They sold the home to Carisa and Eric Upton in 2007.
Draft transcription from the photographed sign; it has not yet received a second review.