10/23/2026
There is an old tradition at Kraus-Anderson that the company was founded by J.L. Robinson in 1897, but recently uncovered documents suggest that KA can, arguably, be considered more venerable still. J.L. Robinson arrived in Minneapolis from Ontario in 1884. It isn’t surprising to learn that Robinson engaged in the building trade soon after arriving in Minneapolis, but what was hitherto unknown is the fact that by 1895 he was operating from his own facility on 3rd Avenue, just south of the Chicago and Milwaukee railroad. A February 1885 newspaper announced that Robinson would soon build “a frame office and shed on west side Third between Twenty-seventh and Thirtieth streets.” Historic building records confirm this and that he expanded his humble HQ building two years later. A Minneapolis atlas from the 1880s offers the only visualization of this shed (yet found), and it's not much. One almost hopes that this minuscule shape represents the workshop before it was expanded, but, in any case, it wasn’t deemed worthy of a demolition permit at the end of its life. If standing today, it would be in the front yard of 2904 3rd Avenue South. Although denied final papers, Robinson’s shed made a lasting if minor impact: its location on the block, predating its division into lots, was responsible for the block’s unique parcels that are forty-six feet wide.
