The original Robbinsdale Oil, pictured above, was built in 1938 at 4082 West Broadway. (Note the the old bandstand behind the truck. Eventually Robin Center would appear in the background.)
In the photograph are partners Henry Hughes (left) and Phil Tepley (right). Soon Hughes bought out his partner’s interest and operated Robbinsdale Oil as a full-service gas station. An addition to the building was built by contractors Carl Mattson and his son, Carl Mattson Jr., in the late 1940s.
Henry Hughes’s son Denny began working with his dad at the age of eleven, doing odd jobs around the station. Denny took over the business in 1963 after his father passed away.
In 1988 Jack Frigard went into business with Denny. By 2011 they had moved the operation to a new address, 4082 West Broadway, in Robin Center. Denny retired from the business in 1990. In addition to running his business, he spent 26 years as a volunteer firefighter.
Denny Hughes passed away in 2021 and the property was put up for sale. The building was demolished in April, 2023, and it is now Downtown Robbinsdale’s Starbucks Coffee Shop, with a drivethrough. So if cars piled up at the old Robbinsdale Oil awaiting service, today they pile up awaiting coffee.
