Born in southern Wisconsin, Byron Robinson worked his way through Mineral Point Seminary and the University of Wisconsin, receiving a degree in 1878. After graduating from Rush Medical College in 1882, he settled in Grand Rapids and practiced medicine there for seven years. During that time he made three trips to Europe to study gynecology and abdominal surgery at Heidelberg, Vienna, Berlin, and London. In 1889 he was appointed chair of anatomy at Toledo Medical College, and he also held professorships at Post Graduate Medical School, Illinois Medical School, and Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery. In 1894 he married a co-worker, Dr. Lucy Wait. As a citizen he was in the forefront of movements for good order and community betterment, personally donating the property for the park named in his honor. Known worldwide for his work, studies, and discoveries in medicine, he is best remembered for his kind, studious, and conscientious treatment and for his persevering fight for civic improvement.