The post-European/American settlement history of Fridley began with the construction of the Red River Trails Woods trail for the Red River ox carts in 1844. The trail traveled through Minnesota Territory from St. Paul to Pembina in present-day North Dakota). The road was used to transport furs to the south and other various supplies to the Red River Valley settlers in the north. The East River Road (Anoka County Highway 1) follows this route today within Fridley, from the border with Minneapolis to the border with Coon Rapids.
In 1847, John Banfill became the first settler in the area, which was known at the time as Manomin. Manomin is a variant spelling of manoomin, the Ojibwe word for wild rice, a staple of their diet. It comprised the modern-day municipalities of Columbia Heights, Fridley, Hilltop, and Spring Lake Park. The Banfill Tavern was built in 1847.
The area soon grew quickly in size. In 1851, Banfill platted the actual town of Manomin. There, a general store and sawmill were built next to Rice Creek, named after Henry Mower Rice, a settler who just two years earlier had acquired land in the area. In 1853, the first town post office was in operation, and a year later, a ferry crossing the Mississippi River was established.
In 1855, Abram M. Fridley, for whom the city is named, was elected as the first territorial representative for the area.
In 1857, the area separated from Ramsey County; Manomin County was established, and it became the smallest county in the United States, having only 18 sections. This distinction was short-lived, after it was annexed by Anoka County in 1870 and became a township with the same name.
The Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad, which joined St. Paul to St. Anthony across from Minneapolis in 1862, began extending rail to Anoka, reaching it through Fridley in 1864.
In 1879, the Minnesota State Legislature, of which Abram M. Fridley was still a member, changed the township’s name to bear his last name.
In 1949, the Fridley Township was incorporated as the Village of Fridley. The Fridley Free Press was also established. A lawsuit that challenged the incorporation of the village caused the funds to be frozen. Minnesota state law allowed cities to operate municipal liquor stores following the end of Prohibition. The Fridley Liquor store proceeds were the primary funding for the daily city operations until the lawsuit was resolved in 1950. In Minnesota there are both private liquor stores or city-owned municipal liquor stores. Fridley is the location of the headquarters of the Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association (MMBA), a lobbying coalition for municipalities with city-owned liquor stores. In conjunction with the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association, they lobbied against Sunday liquor store sales in Minnesota until it was finally permitted in 2017.
In 1957, the village became as the City of Fridley, a “home rule charter city”. The City Hall at 6431 University Avenue Northeast is dedicated with fire station, city services and council meetings. A newer fire station is built in 1964. The city population grew past 15,000 in the 1950s and peaked over 30,000 by the 1970s.
Two of the worst disasters to hit the city happened within weeks of each other. In April 1965, all of Minnesota was affected by a “500 year flood”. The spring 1965 flood on the Upper Mississippi is still the flood of record for from about 100 miles north of Minneapolis, Minnesota to Hannibal, Missouri. The crests of that April exceeded previous records by several feet at many river gauge sites. Those record crests still exceed the second highest crest by a foot or more at many of those same sites. An ice jam rising 24 feet over the river broke up when it rammed a series of ice breakers above the Sartell Dam. The Riverview Heights area where Springbrook creek enters the river was severely flooded.
On May 6, 1965, Fridley was hit by two F4 tornadoes. One out of every four homes in the city was destroyed or damaged. The second twister that hit was the deadliest storm in Twin Cities history (see 1965 Twin Cities tornado outbreak), which killed a total of 13 people. Portions of the City Hall and Fire Station were damaged.
In 1967 the new Civic Center Building opens at the City Hall location with a plaza located to the south. This building was remodeled in 1989. The building was demolished in 2019.
In 1970, Fridley began purchasing land which would become the Springbrook Nature Center. On July 18, 1986, a widely photographed tornado spent 16 minutes in Springbrook Nature Center, destroying thousands of century old trees and extensive areas of mature forest habitat. Well-known aerial footage of the tornado was filmed by a KARE 11 television news helicopter passing through the area.
In 2001, Medtronic opened its new World Headquarters on the site of the 100 Twin Drive-in at Interstate 694 and Minnesota Highway 65. As of 2019, it is still the Operational Headquarters for the Medtronic, PLC, which re-organized as an Irish company in 2015.
On June 19, 2003, President George W. Bush visited the Micro Controls company in Fridley. He was promoting one of the tax relief changes made during his administration. He flew into Minnesota for only a few hours on Air Force One before returning to Washington.
In the early 2000s, the Minnesota Sports Cafe was a notable venue for Mixed martial arts competitions. Fighters who have claimed victories in Fridley include Sean Sherk, Nick Thompson, Brock Larson, Marcus LeVesseur, Brian Ebersole, and Harry Moskowitz.
On September 21, 2005, Fridley was struck by straight-line winds exceeding 80 mph (130 km/h), toppling many old growth trees as large as 2.5 feet (0.76 m) in diameter and in turn, destroying dozens of homes and several vehicles. Cleanup efforts took as long as a week, leaving hundreds of residents stranded in their homes without power, unable to drive until streets were cleared of debris. This same storm also affected Brooklyn Center, New Brighton, Brooklyn Park, Coon Rapids, Spring Lake Park and Blaine, as well as other communities in the surrounding North Metro area.
Fridley has one of the first six stations of the Northstar Commuter Rail line connecting the northwest suburbs and downtown Minneapolis; the line opened in November 2009.
On July 17, 2011, heavy rains caused a washout of the BNSF rail bridge over Rice Creek. A train derailed there, and sent hopper cars containing corn into the creek. Traffic was rerouted for several days. In 2013, a Jury awarded damages from BNSF to the engineer and conductor of the train.
The Columbia Arena, filming location for the Disney Movie D3: The Mighty Ducks, was demolished in 2016 to make way for a new City Hall It was a controversial issue in that it was expected to cost $50 million and increase homeowner taxes by nineteen percent The Fridley Civic Campus dedication at 7071 University Avenue NE was held on November 17, 2018. The staff had moved from the previous city hall over Veteran’s day weekend and began working there on November 12. The City Council approved the project in December 2016 after nearly three years of studies, meetings and workshops. The council raised the levy to pay for the project, increasing city taxes by about 16 percent for the average homeowner. A number of other Twin Cities suburbs updated their civic facilities during a 2018 “building boom of sorts”, including Eagan, New Hope, Minnetonka, and Burnsville.
The city received an allocation of US$1.52 million from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). The money was used to upgrade and repair its water distribution system and wastewater and storm water infrastructure. The city plans in 2022 to use the next allocation of $1.52 million to improve security at water treatment plants, rebuild its water distribution system, and on sanitary sewer and water quality projects.
