1969
In February, 1969, almost 200 students were kicked out of Robbinsdale High School for wearing blue jeans. This violation of the dress code earned the students a three day suspension. Students complained that since green, light blue and beige denim were allowed it was silly to ban blue jeans. About a dozen showed up to protest the next day.
In May, a 19 year old Robbinsdale Marine was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal posthumously for heroism in Vietnamese action. Dean Vasquez, son of Rita Vasquez, graduated from Robbinsdale High School in 1967. According to the official citation for his conduct during a search and destroy mission at the Village of Vanh Quan Thoug in the province of Quang Tri, Vasquez disregarded his safety when he fearlessly moved across fire swept terrain firing his weapon until an enemy grenade wounded the other members of his team and halted their advance. Ignoring the enemy rounds impacting near him, Vasquez continued to deliver suppressive fire upon the enemy bunker, enabling other Marines to overrun the emplacement. The young Marine had been in Vietnam 5 months. His mother was presented with his medal.
Sex education foes broadened their attack on public schools to include library books, films and other materials used in English and social-studies classes, the teaching of evolution and even school taxes. William Boynton, the assistant superintendent at Robbinsdale told the afternoon MInneapolis Star that the leaders of the opposition were just kind of anti-school and he believed that the passage of a 11.5 million dollar bond issue was a vote of confidence for the Robbinsdale schools administration and “family life” curriculum.
Robbinsdale’s old City Hall on West Broadway was torn down to make room for a Red Owl grocery store parking lot in 1954. Municipal offices had been moved into temporary quarters in the police and fire building on Hubbard Avenue the previous year. Construction on the new government offices behind Robin Center began in 1968. The Robbinsdale Civic Center was dedicated to Mayor Charles O. Wallace on October 24th, 1970. Wallace was the Village Recorder in 1937. A year later he became Robbinsdale’s first city clerk. He held office from 1938 until 1945. He served as Mayor from 1947 through 1954 and again from 1967 to 1972.
This post is part of a series loosely based on the book Robbinsdale Then and Now by Helen Blodgett. The photos at of RHS Robinaires are from the amazing RHS Robins facebook page.