1887
In 1886 Minneapolis made an effort to annex all bordering townships to secure more taxable property and money for improvements and perhaps to outclass St. Paul in population. At once, the people of Crystal arose to action and got a special act of the Legislature early in 1887 to incorporate. Thus the village of Crystal was incorporated in January 11, 1887, and included 16 of the original 24 sections (square miles) having already lost much to Minneapolis, including the beautiful area from Xerxes to the Mississippi. By this time the homes were no longer the rough board shanties of 33 years before, but spacious well appointed houses and barns, belonging to the white haired men who by years of toil had won them from the earth. This was a highly favored section, never visited by pestilence (since the 1857 grasshoppers) or famine: there was always a seed time and a harvest. The new village included Crystal and Twin Lakes, Crystal Prairie, and on the west the timber already mentioned. The election held March 8, 1887, selected these officers:
President:
Arthur Sandborn
Trustees;
Thomas Gearty
J. H. White
Philip Kuch
Recorder;
N. F. Russ
Treasurer;
J. B. Johnson
Justices of the Peace:
D. C. Crandall
H. R. Stillman
Constable:
Charles Hommes
Assessor;
Thomas Kirkwood
(In 1888, 0. W. Newell and George Swift were named Justices; E. K. Jaques, a trustee; W. H. Johnson, President of the Board; and these were reelected each year for the next five years.)
On January 9, 1887, school was cancelled because a tramp had broken into the school house on the Stillman farm, burned the teacher’s Bible and some of the scholars’ books and stole the teacher’s watch. A few days later Mr. and Mrs. Stillman canvassed the town for money and presented Louise Kirkwood, the teacher, with a gold watch.
In 1887, local legends report that while passing through the village on a train, Mr. Andrew B. Robbins was so pleased with the beauty of this part of the country that he could not get the memory out of his mind. He saw that because of its proximity to Minneapolis, and its many natural advantages, scenic and otherwise, it could become the best residential section in the Northwest. So he bought 90 acres of land from Alfred Parker, John Shumway, George Brimhall, and David Malbon and proceeded to plat what he called Robbinsdale Park, planning to make it the site of a suburban town such as is found close to the larger cities of the East. He was concerned with everything connected with the advancement of the village. He chose the location because it was slightly rolling, a well-drained tract, with a fine view of the lakes from many points. He personally set out long lines of trees to add to the natural beauty of the village.
In 1890 he built a large home near Twin Lake, on a twenty-acre tract which he landscaped with a great variety of trees and shrubs. (When the Highway Department was forced to cut many of them to make way for the new highway in the early thirties, the workers said they had never seen such a variety of trees in one place.) Andrew Robbins was born in Maine in 1845, His family moved to Anoka in 1855 where his father built the first steam saw mill. Robbins married Adelaide Walker and moved to Willmar where he later became Mayor and served in the State Senate. In 1887 he bought the 90 acres and moved to Robbinsdale and was the village’s first council president in 1893. In his real estate ventures he also platted A. B. Robbins Brookside Park in Richfield at West 54th Street between Thomas and Vincent Avenues South which ineluded a bit of Minnehaha Creek. He died in 1910.
Lars I. Nasett came from Wisconsin with his uncle, L. J. Nasett, who was drawing plans for the Lutheran Seminary. His wife and family came a year later. The streetcar line ended at 18th and Washington Avenues North, and the Nasetts were obliged to hike the rest of the five or six miles. Lars bought land from A. B. Robbins in July,. 1888, and immediately erected the first store in what is now Robbinsdale and opened for business September 21, 1888. The family lived in rooms over the store for 40 years. Advertisements from the 1893 “Picturesque Robbinsdale” say, “Nasett and Bro.—General Merchandise – groceries a specialty – tinware made and repaired – all kinds of jobbing and tinwork done.” Mr. P. J. Linde was his partner for a time, in charge of the repair shop. Mr. Nasett vas much involved in early Robbinsdale. He was a Trustee on the village council for two terms, village assessor off and on for 22 years and also serveded as Village Health Officer. He was succeeded as assessor by J. Clifford Boies. Mr. Nasett was the first Postmaster of Crystal Village, cantilling his first letter in 1888. (Until then the post office had been located at Shingle Creek, now Camden.) He alternated being Postmaster with George Swift who owned the drug store; when the Democrats were in office, he had the job, but when Republicans were in, Mr. Swift had the job at his drug store. By 1910 he was station agent for the Great Northern Railroad and after World War I his son, Lawrence, returned from service and took the job of postmaster until 1934. Lars died in 1937.
Mr. Nasett had a well and a pump in front of the store. People came from miles around for water. He had the water tested at the University and it was found to be some of the best in the state. The pump needed repairs because of its hard use and, getting tired of paying the bills for this public service, he asked the village to pay for the upkeep. Getting “no” for an answer, he buried the pump under the sidewalk where it no doubt still is. The Nasett store stood on the north side of 42nd Avenue just west of West Broadway.
This post is part of a series based on the book Robbinsdale Then and Now by Helen Blodgett