George and Mary Smith

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

Taking a Victory Lap

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

Girling Gets Things Going

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

Our Little Library

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

Building Boundaries

While Andrew B. Robbins began platting and developing subdivisions in the 1890s before racial covenants became common, restrictive clauses began appearing in Robbinsdale around 1915. They became widespread in the 1920s. These covenants were written … Read more

Robbinsdale Schools on Regent

There’s a the ten-acre tract along Regent Avenue near 42nd Avenue that was, for more than a century, the educational heart of Robbinsdale. The story begins in 1889, when Andrew Bonney Robbins, George L. Brimhall, … Read more

To Whiz Bang and Beyond!

Let’s tell the tale of Captain Billy Fawcett, whose unlikely publishing empire began in Robbinsdale and eventually reached national and international prominence. Born Wilford Hamilton Fawcett in Canada in 1885, Fawcett was restless from an … Read more

Triple Twin Lake

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