The Ruff Bros. Grocery

Jerome F. Ruff grew up on his family’s farm on Fish Lake in Maple Grove. He graduated from De La Salle High School in Minneapolis and attended St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Along with … Read more

A Bright Future

On April 19th, 1893, Robbinsdale was organized as a village, consisting of parts of three sections of the original twenty-four of the township, one third of the territory of Crystal, with ten miles of improved … Read more

Mr. Robbins Comes to Town

This is the fourth in a series of posts featuring Mrs. Henry E. Hartig’s,  History of Robbinsdale. Prepared for the Robbinsdale Library Club, Hartig noted that while the material she used came from a variety … Read more

Then and Now on West Broadway

Morris W. Henney bought his drug store at 4139 West Broadway from Henry J. Barnett in about 1939. His son, William Henney, ran the drugstore from 1953 to 1963. It was then sold to Braun’s … Read more

My Dearest Girlie,

Andrew B. Robbins writing to his youngest daughter Esther on August 17th, 1906. As usual he has no excuse for the delay, but the Grand Army Parade was splendid! In other news, no decisive action … Read more

The End of an Era

1982 The month of January had record snowfalls of 17.1 and 18.5 inches. To. gether with the April 20 snowfall, we had 95 inches of snow compared with the yearly average of 45 inches. As … Read more

The Home of Howard Lumber

1977 Mrs. Alma K. Howard, civic leader and president of Howard Lumber Company died, January 21, at age 91. Her home, built about 1915, at 4100 Quail Avenue, was in many details typical of the … Read more

Wrestling, Cats and Dogs

1972 The Robbinsdale City Council asked the Metropolitan Transit Commission to study the feasibility of a minibus system linking West Broadway, Robin Center and 36th and France. A 10 cent fare was proposed. The minibus … Read more

Robbinsdale was Someplace Else

1967 The Crystal Lake Water Study Committee was appointed by the City Council to study the problems of Crystal Lake which, by now, was considered a “dead” lake. Frank Litherland was elected chairman. Others on … Read more