The Rainy River mine commenced processing ore on September 14, 2017 and completed its first gold pour on October 5, 2017.

In 1732, his expedition built Fort Saint Charles on Magnuson's Island on the west side of Lake of the Woods.

[6] In 1817, following the War of 1812 and the redefinition of borders between Canada and the United States, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) built a fort here.

In 1830 HBC Chief Factor John Dugald Cameron[7] named the fur trading post after Frances Ramsay Simpson, the 18-year-old daughter of a London merchant,[8] who had married earlier that year in London, George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, who would visit the fort many times.

On August 25, 2013, the town hosted the final pitstop in the Kraft Celebration Tour by receiving the most votes out of all 20 communities On January 14, 2014, Resolute Forest Products announced that it planned to stop operations of the final paper machine and close out its operations in Fort Frances by the end of the month.

The commercial, which dubs Fort Frances "one of the coldest places in Canada", was shot at the local Tim Hortons.

Workers had spent the night covering the interior of the restaurant with yarn and building a giant toque on the roof.

Summer highs are comparable to Paris and the Los Angeles Basin coastline in California, whereas winter lows on average resemble southern Siberia and polar subarctic inland Scandinavia.

[14] In 2021, Statistics Canada reported that the age demographic broke down as follows for Fort Frances: Under 14 — 14.9% 15 to 24 — 11.2% 25 to 34 — 12.1% 35 to 44 — 10.4% 45 to 54 — 12.0% 55 to 64 — 16.0% Over 65 — 23.4%[15] The city coat of arms features a bull moose; maple leaves; a "Magneto", representative of electricity (industry); two men in a canoe; a white pine tree; and the motto "Industry and Perseverance."

There are no local broadcast outlets or repeaters serving Fort Frances; Shaw Cable carries CBWT-DT (CBC), CBWFT-DT (Ici Radio-Canada Télé) and CKY-DT (CTV) from Winnipeg, CITV-DT (Global) from Edmonton, and TVO, plus CITY-DT (Citytv), CHCH-DT (independent), CFTM-DT (TVA, live feed) and TFO.

United States network programming on Shaw TV comes from Detroit (WDIV-TV, WXYZ-TV, WWJ-TV, and WTVS) and Rochester (WUHF); stations from the Duluth television market are not available on cable, though they are available over-the-air from repeaters in International Falls.