1909
Perly Malbon was a mail carrier for many years. As the train slowed down, mail bags were tossed off, piled into a cart and pushed a block to the post office for sorting. In April, Grenell’s Pool Hall was opened “to be run in a strictly up-to-the minute fashion” said the Tellit. It was located on the second story of the J. B. Scott building.
By August the newspapers were reporting that the town was divided to a child into factions. One either agreed with the Mayor Charles Schuller and the Village Council that Robbinsdale was a law abiding hamlet or believed the town was on the road to perdition and the authorities were in league with evil. The dispute arose around the enforcement of liquor laws. Several saloons, but mostly one known as “The Point”, were accused of staying open past closing time on Sundays. Minnesota Attorney General, David F. Simpson issued an ultimatum. He told Mayor Schuller that he must either rigidly enforce the village liquor laws or resign. Simpson received additional complaints. A hearing was held in St. Paul on August 18th, the Attorney General asked the Mayor to resign over this matter and threatened to began proceedings against the mayor on the grounds of malfeasance. Mayor Schuller lawyered up and prepared to fight the Attorney General in court. Feelings were high strung. Village Councilman, T.A. Tyler, fainted on street corner while discussing that matter with residents. A a rowdy town hall meeting held on August 25th, the father of the village, Andrew B. Robbins rose to restore order beseeching the crowd,
” Gentleman let us act in a businesslike way. Our town has been given much ill repute over this matter. Let us not besmirch it any further.”
The liquor trouble was finally settled in September after another hearing with the Minnesota Attorney General. The Village Council promised it would appoint a special policeman to keep watch and ensure that laws against selling liquor after 11:00pm on Sundays were strictly enforced.
This post is part of a series loosely based on the book Robbinsdale Then and Now by Helen Blodgett.
Wow love reading this stuff im sure my grandpa was in the middle of it all
Very cool I got geometry book from great grandparents it shows robbinsdale but not crystal published in 1886
Do you have any old photo’s of all the businesses that were on the corner of 36th Ave North and Nobel Ave? their was a very old hardware store building constructed in the late 1800’s and my father owned the gas station on 3601 Nobel ave just across the street from the hardware store. eventually a drug store was built and then a Piggle Wiggle grocery store across from my father gas station it was called King Oil.. I used to talk with the old couple that lived above their hardware store this would have been in the early 1970’s and they were in the later 80’s at that time! still running the hardware store!. AL