The village of Pillsbury was platted by the Luverne Land Company on land purchased from C. O. Smith on July 21 , 1910. The Luverne Land Company, a subsidiary of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, operated from Willmar, Minnesota, and was responsible for the platting of several towns on the new Fargo-Surrey Cut-off of the railroad.
Immediately after the filing of the plat lots were sold at public auction. The railroad, not being fully operational, and there being no lumber yard at the plat site, building materials were first hauled from Colgate, northeast of the townsite.
View of Oriska, N.D. about 1905. Note that there are no autos on the street.
The plat of the village indicates the name as that of Pillsbury, named after the Pillsbury family of milling fame.
The first building on the site was that of the bank, which opened for business in July, 1911. Called the Pillsbury State Bank, it was owned by Frank Erid of Hope. A brick building was built in 1912 and a second bank, the Security State Bank, was opened only to be later sold to its competitor.
A post office was established December 14, 1911 with Lemuel B. Smith as the postmaster. The Smith family lived over the bank building, operated the telephone exchange and ied the carpenters busy constructing other buildings in the budding village. By May of 1912 there was a lumber yard; general store, operated by Fred Keye; an elevator and a livery barn. Mr. Keyes celebrated the completion of his home with a dance and gave a 100 pound bag of peanuts as a prize in addition to sponsoring the first baseball game, at which 325 citizens attended. The Keyes store operated for over 63 years.
By August 6, 1912 all the schools in Ellsbury township became part of Pillsbury District # 90.
In 1913 the Baldwin Presbyterian Church was moved into Pillsbury and has been the only church here.
A number of businesses have been started and operated, including the Stack Hotel, but time, fires and the "great Depression" have taken a grim toll of the village. Pillsbury was incorporated on October 26, 1921 at the peak of its existence.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 287