Shortly after Andrew B. Robbins moved his family to Robbinsdale, he gathered a group of investors and built the Hubbard Specialty Manufacturing plant. The firm made chairs, wheelbarrows, camp furniture, grocery boxes, and wooden washing machines. In 1891 Robbins sold the company to Sweatt Manufacturing. A year later a fire destroyed the building on Hubbard Avenue. Sweatt moved operations to their facility on East 26th Street in Minneapolis. A few years earlier, The company’s director, William R. Sweatt had wisely invested $1500 dollars in a small Electric Thermostat Company. In 1902 Swaett purchased the Electric Heat Regulator Company and changed the name to the Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company. The firm merged with Honeywell in 1927.
