In November 1928, the NP Railway District Engineer was pushing for a new depot. Meanwhile, the Mandan NP lunchroom was under the direction of an energetic new manager, which was pulling in between $1,000 and $1,500 per month net profit for the railroad. He was doing it by attracting local patrons, despite a building that was "old, inadequate, and in need of repair."
NP management included a new lunch room building in the budget for the 1929 reconstruction. One NP executive objected to building a separate lunch room on grounds that it would compete with local businesses in Mandan. But the separate lunchroom was approved anyway.
The original lunchroom was located east of the depot, but the new lunchroom was located to the west so that the prior lunchroom could be converted into an express baggage handling area to serve the surge in cargo destined for the newly openned north and south branch lines.
The "Beanery" building was modified several times. In 1930 a water softening plant was installed in the basement to provide softened water to the depot, the lunch room and passenger cars stopped at the deport. This facility was removed in 1942 when a connection was made to city water. Air conditioning was installed in 1936, partly because a coffee shop across the street also got air conditioning the same year.
c. 1943 NP Beanery With Weather Shelter Courtesy of Lorenz Schrenk Private Collection
In 1943, a vestibule was built outside the front door. The large numbers of wartime travelers created congestion at the front entrance, which was near the magazine stand and cashier, and caused excessive loss of heat as passengers tried to entered and leave the building. In 1947, because of the practice of locking restrooms in the depot between trains, more people were using those in the basement of the building. Consequently, new restrooms were constructed to the east side of the lunchroom. In 1959, when the NP power plant was retired, a gas-fired boiler was installed in the basement of the lunchroom to heat the lunch room, the depot, the freight house and other nearby buildings.
The Beanery and Depot buildings were bought by the City of Mandan in 1988 after standing vacant for 10 years after passenger service in the south central and southwest portion of the state was suspended by Amtrak.
This information was obtained in large part from the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association and their publication "The Mainstreeter" Volume 16 No. 3 Summer 1997 issue written by Lorenz P. Schrenk.
The MHSoc's museum and office is located at 411 W Main St, Mandan, ND 58554 Contact us at info@mandanhistory.org or leave message at (701) 751-2983
