406 America Avenue
Samuel Robinson and Agnes McConnell were married in 1898. They were two of the earliest residents of Bemidji. He purchased a business lot on the corner of Third St. and Bemidji Avenue on Feb. 1, 1899, and they built this house about the same time. Their daughter Ella Robinson was born in 1898. On the 1900 census, Samuel and Agnes have four children, Mable, Effie, Elliot and Ella living with them. Agnes was the mother of the three youngest children. Judge Spooner granted an absolute decree of divorce to Mrs. Agnes Robinson from her husband, Samuel Robinson on June 5, 1905, and she was allowed the custody of two children, a boy of eight and a girl of five, presumably Elliot and Ella. On the 1910 census, she and her three children, Effie, Elliot, and Ella, were living at 406 America Ave. The house was described by the Sanborn map company in 1914 as a dwelling, 1½ stories, with a one story apartment and porch, and a small bldg also on the lot. Agnes McConnell Robinson lived in this house for 42 years until her death on May 5, 1941.
Edward Joseph Brouillard moved to the Bemidji area in 1917. He was a private in the infantry in World War I. Upon his return, Ella Robinson and he were married on Sept 25, 1919 and he moved into the Robinson home.During his career, he worked for the Crookston Lumber Co., the Bigelow Lumber Co., Robertson Lumber Co., and for E. E. Kenfield & Sons. He was a member of the Ralph Gracie Post and the Bemidji Fire Department.
Agnes died in 1941 and is buried at Greenwood Cemetery. Edward and Ella continued to live in the home. City manager reported in April 1969 that a contract for purchase of the Brouillard property had been concluded for additional parking for City Hall. The Brouillards moved to the Northland Apartments. Edward died on Dec 24, 1970 and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery. Ella died in Indiana in 1976.