Timeline

Northern Pacific Railroad began construction of its northern transcontinental line.

The U.S. Army began building Fort McKeen near the Heart and Missouri rivers.

Fort McKeen was renamed Fort Abraham Lincoln.

Elizabeth Custer arrives at Fort Abraham Lincoln.

The Seventh Cavalry is stationed at Fort Abraham Lincoln.

The Dakota territorial legislature created Morton County.

Custer leads an expedition into the Black Hills.

The Seventh Cavalry departs Fort Abraham Lincoln.

Elijah Boley becomes Morton County's first assessor.

Morton County completed its administrative organization, with Lincoln as county seat.

Mandan's first Northern Pacific depot is built.

Henry Coe publishes the first Northern Pacific Times.

The Mandan Criterion began publication as the city’s first newspaper.

Mandan holds an early community fair with races, baseball, and roping.

The Merchants Hotel opens.

St. Joseph Catholic parish is organized.

Tubbs & Cummins Clothiers opens.

Morton County’s original boundaries were restored.

Mandan was officially incorporated as a village.

Boley helps reorganize Morton County.

Lyman Cary arrives in Mandan.

The Mandan School District is formally organized.

First Presbyterian Church is formally organized.

The First National Bank of Mandan is organized.

Mandan's first purpose-built schoolhouse opens.

Northern Pacific completed its railroad bridge across the Missouri River.

The Emerson Institute is completed.

Peoples' Hotel opens at Main Street and Collins Avenue.

The InterOcean Hotel opens.

Northern Pacific completes the Missouri River High Bridge.

The Queen Anne depot is completed.

A major Main Street fire destroyed hotels and businesses.

James Clark opens a drugstore in Mandan.

Mandan’s population surged following completion of the railroad bridge and maintenance facilities.

Margaret Bowers begins teaching in Mandan.

Elizabeth Custer publishes Boots and Saddles.

Lyman Cary completes the Pioneer Block.

The Mandan flour mill is established.

Henry Coe begins serving as mayor of Mandan.

Morton County moves into its new hilltop courthouse.

Morton County officials moved into the new courthouse.

Scandinavian settlers organize the congregation that becomes First Lutheran Church.

A major flood closed the school and interrupted railroad traffic.

North Dakota entered the Union.

Andrew Thorberg becomes Mandan's postmaster.

The U.S. Army notified Fort Abraham Lincoln that the post would be abandoned.

William Lanterman helps establish the State Bank of Morton County.

The State Bank of Morton County opened.

An expansion creates the Mandan Opera House.

The Panic of 1893 and falling farm prices sharply reduced regional incomes and tax revenue.

The snagboat Mandan is launched.

Mandan begins hosting North Dakota's State Fair.

Morton County Sheriff Charles McDonald captured escaped prisoner Frank James and returned him to Mandan.

Hiram R. Lyon builds the Lyon-Weigel Home.

Mandan voters approve construction of Central School.

Voters approve construction of Central School.

Voters approve construction of Central School.

A larger brick store is built on the site.

The Pan-American Exposition opened in Buffalo with North Dakota represented by a state commission.

Mandan's lending-library collection outgrows Clark's store.

President Theodore Roosevelt stopped in Mandan during a western tour.

President Theodore Roosevelt spoke at the Mandan depot during his western tour.

North Dakota State Reform School admits its first students.

Stuart Dunlap builds the present Dunlap-Harris Home.

St. Joseph Catholic Church is dedicated.

Hotel Nigey opens.

N. A. Freeburg builds the Freeburg-Esser Home.

Cora Swanson acquires the Swanson-Reichman Home property.

Construction began on the railroad line south from Mandan.

Topic Theatre advertises nightly variety shows and moving pictures.

Walter and Lucy Parkin build the Parkin-Cooley Home.

Flooding from the Missouri and Heart rivers inundated southern Mandan and interrupted mail and rail service.

Fire destroyed the Northern Pacific east freight house and damaged 12 boxcars.

Mandan's first formal hospital opens.

Northern Pacific opens its new west Mandan freight house.

Robert “Lucky Bob” St. Henry demonstrated a Curtiss biplane at the Missouri Slope Fair.

Hugh Altnow builds the Altnow-Smith Home.

Congress establishes the Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory.

Mandan’s first Boy Scout troop was established.

Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt addressed a crowd from his train at the Mandan depot.

North Dakota adopts colored highway designations.

The former depot is moved and converted into a residence.

North Dakota received land at Fort Abraham Lincoln for use as a state park.

A bronze bell is installed in the school's cupola.

A steel-and-concrete dam was completed across the Heart River west of Mandan.

Mandan secures the federal agricultural experiment station.

William Langer becomes Morton County state's attorney.

First Street Federal Building opens as Mandan's post office.

Harry L. Hartman adds a movie screen to the Topic Theatre.

Mandan Creamery and Produce Company begins operations.

James McGillic rebuilds the McGillic Home.

The Palace Theatre opens.

Grant County was formed from the southwestern half of Morton County.

Missouri Valley Grocery Warehouse is constructed.

The InterOcean Hotel is demolished.

The new Lewis and Clark Hotel opens.

The Red Trail becomes State Route 3.

Thorberg opens the Thorberg Tile Company.

First Presbyterian Church dedicates its new brick building.

Methodist churches assume operation and rename it Deaconess Hospital.

Robert W. Welsh Sr. builds the Welch-Ness Home.

Fire destroys the depot's second floor.

Northern Pacific passenger depot destroyed by fire

State Route 3 is redesignated North Dakota Highway 6.

The North Dakota Memorial Bridge opens.

Liberty Memorial Bridge dedicated

Coe donates the Rough Rider statue to Mandan.

Mandan dedicates the Theodore Roosevelt Roughrider statue.

Roughrider statue dedicated

North Dakota Highway 6 becomes part of U.S. Highway 10.

Collins Avenue Civic Building opens as Mandan's new city hall.

Boy Scouts complete the first Mandan sign on Crying Hill.

Northern Pacific builds the Mandan Beanery.

The Colonial-style depot replaces the Queen Anne depot.

Army bombers sent to break Missouri River ice jams

Northern Pacific dedicates Mandan's Colonial-style passenger depot.

First airmail service arrives in the Mandan area

Community swimming area established along the Missouri River

William Langer begins his first term as governor.

Eielson Field is formally dedicated.

A new Mandan High School building opens at the complex.

A new Mandan High School opens.

Rock Haven's harbor facilities are dismantled.

The former Opera House is demolished.

World War Memorial Building pool and first floor open

Park development begins at Fort Abraham Lincoln.

The World War Memorial Building's first floor and swimming pool open.

Main Street pedestrian underpass opens

Record drought and extreme temperatures strike the area

President Franklin D. Roosevelt visits the Mandan Agricultural Research Station

Mandan formally dedicates the World War Memorial Building.

The Mandan Theatre opens on Main Street.

Scarlet fever outbreak closes schools and public gatherings

Reconstructed fort and state park buildings are dedicated.

William Langer enters the U.S. Senate.

Fire destroys the Morton County Courthouse.

Morton County Courthouse destroyed by fire

Mandan Civilian Conservation Corps camp closes

SS Mandan Victory launched

Troop train derails near Lyons

Mandan celebrates the announced surrender of Japan

Missouri Valley Aviation School established

Farmers Union elevator opens

Montana-Dakota Utilities announces the R. M. Heskett Power Station

Flour-milling operations close.

Lincoln four-cent coil stamp first-day covers were issued at the Mandan post office.

Trail West begins its summer run at the Custer Memorial Amphitheater.

Hulette Building and Ben Franklin store destroyed by fire

Christ the King Church is dedicated.

Mandan adopts year-round Central Standard Time

Dolores Pierce becomes the first woman elected to the Mandan City Commission

Demolition of the mill complex is completed.

Direct Distance Dialing comes to Mandan

Barry and Esther Davis reopen the Havana Club.

Interstate 94 and the Grant Marsh Bridge are completed

Fire heavily damages the former hotel.

Central School is demolished.

North Dakota's “Storm of the Century” begins

Relocation of the Mandan-to-Flasher Northern Pacific line completed

Fire destroys the McDonald Hotel.

The outdoor Custer drama ends after its final season.

Fire destroys the Seven Seas building.

Mandan annexes approximately 1,200 acres along Memorial Highway

The Mandan News publishes its first issue

The original hospital building is demolished during Heartview's expansion.

The Palace Theatre is demolished.

Memorial Highway widened to five lanes

Welch-Ness Home is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Mandan's Whispering Giant sculpture is dedicated.

The Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation is formed in downtown Mandan.

Mandan Park Board approves new rodeo grounds

Bismarck Expressway Bridge opens

The Mandan sign moves to the eastern face of Crying Hill.

Mandan Creamery and Produce closes its downtown plant

Operations cease at Mandan Creamery's downtown plant.

Dance Party USA broadcasts from Mandan High School

Mandan Jaycee Rodeo held for the last time at the Syndicate Rodeo Grounds

CCC alumni place a commemorative plaque in the camp chimney.

Stuart Dunlap Home is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

City approves construction of a band shell at BN Park

Reconstruction of Mandan's Main Street begins

Davenport Hill Bike Trail opens

Downtown groundwater oil-recovery trench completed

Mandan adopts a city-administrator form of government

Cloverdale Foods sets a world record for the longest hot dog

Mandan Historical Society formed

Demolition of the former Peoples' Hotel begins.

The combined Morton Mandan Public Library opens in the former freight house.

The second Liberty Memorial Bridge opens.

First Street Federal Building is demolished.

The replacement Liberty Memorial Bridge is dedicated.

Harmon Lake opens in northern Morton County

Mandan Park District purchases Raging Rivers Water Park

Mandan's second fire station opens in Lakewood

Mandan Place is completed.

Good Friday blizzard causes widespread damage and power outages

Major Missouri River flooding begins in the Mandan-Bismarck area

The foundation adopts a broader heritage-tourism mission.

Red Trail Elementary School opens.

Prairie Farms Dairy announces the end of milk processing in Bismarck

The CCC Camp V2775 chimney is demolished.