Neighboring first-ring suburbs are Columbia Heights to the south and Brooklyn Center to the west, across the Mississippi River.

Fridley borders the cities of Coon Rapids and Blaine to the north; Spring Lake Park to the northeast; Mounds View and New Brighton to the east; Columbia Heights to the southeast; Minneapolis to the southwest; and Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center to the west.

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.

In 1853, the first town post office was in operation, and a year later, a ferry crossing the Mississippi River was established.

Minnesota state law allowed cities to operate municipal liquor stores after Prohibition ended.

[21] Fridley's liquor store proceeds were the primary funding for daily city operations until the lawsuit was resolved in 1950.

[23] The Totino's frozen pizza company opened a factory in Fridley in 1970 as it was growing to a national business.

The crests that April exceeded previous records by several feet at many river gauge sites.

The acreage around 73rd and (old) Central was purchased by growing Minneapolis-originated companies, Medtronic, Inc. and Onan Corporation, for manufacturing facilities.

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.

[30] In 2001, Medtronic opened its new World Headquarters on the site of the 100 Twin Drive-in at Interstate 694 and Minnesota Highway 65.

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 destroying dozens of homes and several vehicles.

Cleanup efforts took a week, leaving hundreds of residents stranded in their homes without power, unable to drive until streets were cleared of debris.

[38] 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.

[41] The staff had moved from the previous city hall over Veteran's Day weekend and began working there on November 12.

The council raised the levy to pay for the project, increasing city taxes about 16% for the average homeowner.

[42] 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.

[44] President Joe Biden visited the Cummins plant in Fridley on April 3, 2022, as part of his "Investing in America" tour.

[45] Cummins had announced a $1 billion initiative to produce clean energy technology, including electrolyzers for hydrogen cells in Fridley.

Minneapolis and Saint Paul draw their municipal water supplies from the Mississippi River at Fridley, which is upstream.

In 1978, Fridley closed three elementary schools due to declining enrollment: Gardena, Riverwood, and Parkview.

Fridley has the following Anoka County parks: Interstate 694 and Minnesota State Highways 47 and 65 are three of the main automobile routes in the city.

The BNSF Railway main Northern transcontinental Twin Cities to Portland/Seattle double track line passes through Fridley as part of the Staples Subdivision.

[56][57] The Fridley Station is served by the Northstar Commuter Rail line running on the BNSF tracks into Minneapolis.

The Mississippi River is non-navigable for barge traffic north of the Canadian Pacific Camden Place Rail Bridge, but small boats can travel upstream to the Coon Rapids Dam without a portage.

There is a landing for small boats in the river near Interstate 694 at the Anoka County Riverfront Regional Park.

[60][61] The nickname was spread further by a long-running series of advertisements on various radio stations for a local car dealer.