Horatio Stillman was born in 1832 in Andover, Ohio. When he was 21 years old his father gave him $200.00. By the following year he had doubled it by making oars for boats. He married his Ohio sweetheart, Arvilla M. Townsend, and arrived in Hennepin County in 1854. The Stillmans had two children, a son, Elmer, and a daughter, Ella.
After his first wife, Arvilla, died in 1872, Stillman married Margaret E. Allison. The couple had one daughter, Maude. In 1893, they built a fourteen-room house near Rockford Road. The house stood for over fifty years.
In 1865, the first school in the area was built on the Stillman farm at about 43rd Ave. N. and Adair Avenue. It was used as a school for about 25 years before it became a dwelling. The building was eventually torn down and the lumber was used in the construction of a barn.
Stillman passed away in November of 1920. His daughter, Maude Stillman Huston, lived at 4155 Quail Avenue until 1963.
A table from the Stillman farm was donated in 1982 to the Robbinsdale Historical Society by the William Driver, Jr. family. The table is on display at the Robbinsdale History Museum. Look for it to the left of the door when you walk in.
Maggie Stillman and Maude in 1914
On February 8, 1894, the Ladies’ Aide Society of the Congregational Church held an afternoon meeting at the Stillman home to celebrate its completion. That night a large reception was held, with 75 people in attendance.
Horatio Stillman served in the Civil War and was active in civil affairs back home. He was Township Supervisor and Justice of Peace and was a member of the school board for 21 years.
Mrs. Maggie Stillman was active in the Congregational Church and was interested in the early school, as she was a school teacher. She was a supporter of the Robbinsdale Library Club, whose members raised funds to build the library, which opened in 1926 debt free.
-This material was gathered from the North Hennepin Post, Helen Blodgett’s Robbinsdale Then…And Now, and the diaries of Ellen M. Bisbee (sister of J. P. Shumway and Nathan F. Russ). 
Maggie Stillman and her daughter, Maude, all dressed up on the farm.