[1] He moved to Platteville, Wisconsin in May 1837 and began teaching the village school.
[4][5] Robbins opened a school in a log house with 60 students in attendance.
[7] He was a member of the State Board of Regents for Normal Schools for ten years and made significant contributions towards the creation of multiple normal schools across the state.
Later, Robbins was an unsuccessful candidate for the Assembly, losing to Thomas G. Stephens.
Fifteen years after his death, the Hanmer Robbins school was built in 1905.