Robbinsdale Historical Society
Sharing Your Past To Build Our Future
The parks and green spaces between Robbinsdale, Golden Valley, and Minneapolis have fascinating histories. Take Sochacki Park, for instance: when a firm requested a permit in 1961 to turn a low, swampy area along the … Read more
A Civil War veteran, Jay Elijah Nash, moved to Minnesota in 1869 and established a 40-acre dairy farm on the eastern shore of Crystal Lake in 1880. Driven by his experiences in war, Jay became … Read more
Let’s take a journey through the history of Twin Lake, a chain of three connected lakes stretching across Robbinsdale, Crystal, and Brooklyn Center. The story begins with Andrew B. Robbins, the visionary founder of Robbinsdale, … Read more
Conceived in the aftermath of World War I, Victory Memorial Drive emerged from Superintendent Theodore Wirth’s vision for a living monument. Designed as the northwest segment of the Grand Rounds parkway system, the corridor was … Read more
There a series of exciting events coming up to celebrate the creek, Ȟaȟá Wakpádaŋ. Please mark your calendars and share widely. Hope to see you soon–maybe even this upcoming Monday October 12! Monday October 12 … Read more
George Cecil Smith was born in Logan, Ohio, on August 13, 1881, on a small farm his father’s parents had been renting. George’s parents were both very young when they were married and didn’t get … Read more
The retail evolution of Robbinsdale shifted dramatically from a traditional, walkable early 20th-century main street to auto-centric suburban development driven by a post-World War II demand for convenience. This transformation was deeply influenced by Austrian-Jewish … Read more
For more than a century, the Girling and Ambrose families have been woven into the history of Robbinsdale. Thomas Herbert Girling, born in England in 1865, arrived in Minnesota in the late nineteenth century and … Read more
In 1907, a group of determined Robbinsdale women, including Amy Robbins, formed the Robbinsdale Library Club with a simple but ambitious goal: to create a free public library and a gathering place for the community. … Read more