The historical society will use Landmarks Illinois grant funds to aid stabilization efforts at the historic SB Fuller Home, former home to businessman and entrepreneur SB Fuller, who founded Fuller Products. Born in 1905 to a family of sharecroppers in Louisiana, Fuller began door-to-door sales at the age of nine to help support his family. He moved to Chicago at 17 to pursue a career in sales. At his peak, SB Fuller owned eight other corporations, was publisher of two newspapers, led the Chicago NAACP, served as president of the National Negro Business League and was a prominent Republican. Fuller Products also had a register on the New York Stock Exchange.

​

SB Fuller built his mansion in Robbins in 1958 one of the oldest incorporated African American communities in the United States. Fuller died in 1988, leaving the mansion to his wife Lestine who passed away in 1999. Other family members manage the home until 2016 when the mansion was then donated to the Robbins Historical Society and Museum. Unfortunately, the Fuller home has been neglected for many years and is currently uninhabitable. The Robbins Historical Society and Museum will use the Landmarks Illinois’ grant to mothball and stabilize the structure with repairs identified in an economic feasibility study that will be completed using funds from a National Trust for Historic Preservation grant.  For additional details about all of the 2021 grant recipients, click here.