Mandan’s historic Lewis and Clark Hotel was completed in the fall of 1917. Fargo businessman and former North Dakota Governor Hanna acquired its predecessor – the Inter-Ocean Hotel – two years prior for about twenty thousand dollars. The Inter-Ocean had been operating almost since Mandan’s inception.
Hanna demolished the original hotel soon after to erect the replacement Lewis and Clark Hotel at a cost somewhere between $150,000-$200,000. These were quite impressive sums for the era – comparable to about four million dollars today, and the four-story pressed brick Lewis and Clark Hotel became well reputed. The Hanna family maintained ownership until 1985, when a group of investors acquired the property and remodeled it into apartments with the help of MIDA bond financing. Dan Hanna was a partner in the investment firm, which also included William Clairmont. In recent year, this historic building hasn’t been well maintained and is starting to decline.
