Pioneers first settled in the area that later became Kathryn, North Dakota, as early as 1876. As the Northern Pacific Railroad constructed the Casselton-Marion spur line, John Runck joined a civil engineer to plat land he had purchased from Frank Lynch of Casselton in 1900. The site became Kathryn, named after Northern Pacific Railroad President Charles S. Mellen's daughter. Other towns along the spur line were also named after women, including Elizabeth, Alice, and Marion, and the branch became known as the Ladies Line. John Runck had a carload of lumber delivered to Kathryn, and a carpenter crew erected the first mercantile building, Runck Brothers General Store, and the town's depot. The depot operated from early 1900 until the mid-1960s and moved to Bonanzaville soon after. Today, the Kathryn Depot houses a miniature model train and town constructed and managed by the Spud Valley Model Railroad Club.