Brooklyn Center is a first-ring suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 33,782 at the 2020 census, and was estimated at 31,755 in 2024. The city has commercial and industrial development. The majority of land use is single-family homes. and the city has become the most ethnically diverse community in the state.
History
alt=Brooklyn Center Baptist Church.|left|thumb|257x257px|Brooklyn Center Baptist Church, 1903.
Pioneers organized town governments for Brooklyn Township and Crystal Lake Township when Minnesota became a state in 1858. Osseo Road was a main thoroughfare that brought settlers to an area centered around their school, post office, store, meeting hall, and Baptist and Methodist churches. That location thrived as a market gardening community. It abutted the encroaching development of Minneapolis to the south.
Steps were taken to protect the area from annexation by Minneapolis and to retain "simpler public business methods, and extra police protection" by incorporation. The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners accepted a petition to incorporate the Village of Brooklyn Center on January 16, 1911. An election followed, the boundaries were set, and documents filed with the state on February 18, 1911. P.W. Reidhead was the first president. The population was 500. when the population had grown to over 24,000. In 1963, even more new opportunities for commercial development were presented with the estate of Earle Brown, deceased, the heir of Captain John Martin who had been one of the wealthiest men in Minneapolis.
Heritage Center of Brooklyn Center was the former Cap Martin country estate, built in 1878 and willed to his grandson Earle Brown in 1901. The buildings included the family home, office and garage, housing for the workers, a pump house, multiple barns, a hippodrome, an antique carriage collection, and a restored lumber bunkhouse and cook shanty. It is now a historic site in Brooklyn Center owned by the city and developed into a conference and event center.
In April 2021, Daunte Wright was killed by a city police officer. Due to elevated racial tensions and anti-police sentiment because of the concurrent Derek Chauvin trial, riots and looting broke out. California Congresswoman Maxine Waters traveled to the city to hold a rally for the protestors, encouraging further protests should Chauvin not be found guilty. The city worked with Juxtaposition Arts on a permanent memorial to Wright.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (4.51%) is water. The Mississippi River is the eastern boundary of the city and is part of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area of Minnesota. The North Mississippi Regional Park, at 5700 Lyndale Avenue North, is managed by Three Rivers Park District Board, on which Brooklyn Center is represented in District 3.
Southwestern Brooklyn Center includes Upper Twin Lake (117 acres) and connects to a chain of lakes that discharge into Shingle Creek, which discharges into the Mississippi River. Shingle Creek also runs through Palmer Lake. The city is a member of Shingle Creek and West Mississippi Watershed Management Commission, which manages the lakes, streams, and wetlands in this area. Palmer Lake Park is a natural environmental preserve of lake and marsh habitat on over 200 acres.
All of Brooklyn Center is in the state's Deciduous Forest Biome. The Plant Hardiness Zone is 4B, with an average minimum extreme temperature of −25 to −20 Fahrenheit. The city has developed and maintains 26 parks and a 20-mile trail system. The majority of land use is single-family homes. Interstates 94 and 694 and Minnesota State Highways 100 and 252 are four of the main routes in Brooklyn Center.