Sports bar, billiards & darts near Brooklyn Park, MN

A river away from Brooklyn Park

Brooklyn Park is across the Mississippi from Two Stooges. The river forms the city's eastern boundary, with Fridley and Coon Rapids on the far bank in Anoka County. Brooklyn Park is in Hennepin County and, with 86,478 residents at the 2020 census, has nearly three times Fridley's population.

Settlers from Brooklyn, Michigan, named the township, which became a village in 1954 and a city in 1969. Highways 252 and 610, U.S. Highway 169 and Interstates 94 and 694 are its main routes, and Interstate 694 is a main highway in Fridley too. Local landmarks include the Eidem Homestead, a working farm from the 1900s, Mississippi Gateway Regional Park beside the Coon Rapids Dam, and North Hennepin Community College. Jesse Ventura was mayor here from 1991 to 1995, before he became governor.

Before any of that, the area was settled in 1852 and organized as Brooklyn Township in 1858; the southeast corner split off as Brooklyn Center in 1911. Rasmussen University and a Hennepin Technical College campus are in the city, the Rush Creek Regional Trail is named for a local creek, and manufacturing is the largest source of jobs, ahead of health care. County Road 81 is another of the main routes.