Robbinsdale Historical Society
Sharing Your Past To Build Our Future
The Robbinsdale City Band is known as the longest continuing municipal band in the Upper Midwest. Its beginnings trace back to 1906, when the Grenell Minstrels performed a concert to raise money for instruments and … Read more
Filmed and shared by Restore Lilac Way
The complicated intersection of Oakdale, West Broadway, Lowry Avenue, and Victory Memorial Drive has been a Northside crossroads for over a century. A variety of development pressures and transportation innovations led to the creation of … Read more
This treasured photo of the original Robin’s Nest root beer shack was brought into the Robbinsdale Historical Society Museum by Anita McLaughlin, daughter of the longtime owners of the “Nest,” as it was known for … Read more
The first water tower in Robbinsdale was erected by the Dickinson & Gillespie Real Estate Company in their McNair Manor development. The company spent $250,000 before any houses were built. Streets were laid and this … Read more
Born in Hedemark, Norway, Einar Dahl immigrated to the United States in 1902. He found work as a harness maker and shoe salesman. After Dahl came to the Twin Cities in 1907, he eventually found … Read more
Joe Roche, son of former mayor and Bank President Joseph William Roche, remembers the “Great Robbinsdale Bank Robbery.” His written account is dated July 9, 2002: For the record, this is what I recall about … Read more
Frustrated by Minneapolis licensing requirements and bureaucracy, Dr. Samuel Samuelson decided to build Victory Hospital on property he already owned in Robbinsdale. A year before the building’s completion Dr. Samuelson told the Robbinsdale Post newspaper … Read more
William Herbert Schaper (1914-1980) was a postman and a fisherman who enjoyed making his own fishing lures. While sitting on his front porch one day in 1948, he whittled a wooden lure that reminded him … Read more