Pillsbury attended the local schools until the age of 18 when he moved to Boston, Massachusetts to work as a clerk in a store.

In 1851 he moved the family to Concord, New Hampshire where he was appointed to oversee the construction of the county jail.

While working with the railroad, Pillsbury was also active with several major banks in Concord as well as local politics.

In 1885 he chaired the committee building the Chamber of Commerce (today known as the Minneapolis Grain Exchange).

[1][2] He also remained involved in politics, winning election to the Minneapolis Board of Education and as an alderman in 1881.

Facing pressure from the temperance movement as the city swelled with saloons, Pillsbury instituted a unique system of "liquor patrol limits" which limited bars to heavily trafficked streets near the city's core which were more likely to be well-patrolled by police.

He also supported causes in his native state including the endowment of a library in Warner, a war memorial in Sutton and the Margaret Pillsbury Hospital in Concord.