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C−History
History · Brooklyn Center

Brooklyn Center dates to 1852

More historic than 18% of U.S. towns · #234 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it

Most of Brooklyn Center was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1962. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1920.

1852founded
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
7old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Brooklyn Center’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Brooklyn Center began

When was Brooklyn Center founded?

1852

Brooklyn Center dates its founding to 1852 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1920.

First census: 788 in 19202020 census: 33,782174 years

How historic is Brooklyn Center?

C−

More historic than 18% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1873.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Brooklyn Center’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brooklyn Center is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns, #234 of 273 in Minnesota. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Brooklyn Center’s overall grade.
Founding era1852, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19402.6% of homes (±1.0) · typical MN town 8.1% · U.S. 8.4%C−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MN town 2.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 18%
NewerOlder
Minnesota towns of 2,500+ (273)Ahead of 14%

Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Brooklyn Center’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1852.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.0 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Brooklyn Center’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

On the map since 19026 editions of the USGS map, 1902 to 1993. Watch Brooklyn Center change.Old housesHalf of Brooklyn Center’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · On the map

Brooklyn Center on the map, 1902 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brooklyn Center. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Brooklyn Center on the 1902 USGS mapBrooklyn Center on the 1952 USGS mapBrooklyn Center on the 1967 USGS mapBrooklyn Center on the 1972 USGS mapBrooklyn Center on the 1980 USGS mapBrooklyn Center on the 1993 USGS map1902Anoka sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Brooklyn Center.

The story

How Brooklyn Center came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Brooklyn Center.

Read it all →

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.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Brooklyn Center in 1914

Passages that mention Brooklyn Center, cut from the printed page as they were published.

many miles north of Bassett's creek, and he also had charge of the church interests at Harmony, now Richfield, and those at Brooklyn Center. He secured the nucleus of a congregation at each place, the number at the first being seven. Of this number only one, Mrs. Abisha Benson, of Minneapolis, is n…
Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota1914 · page 366Read the page →
Read the text

many miles north of Bassett's creek, and he also had charge of the church interests at Harmony, now Richfield, and those at Brooklyn Center. He secured the nucleus of a congregation at each place, the number at the first being seven. Of this number only one, Mrs. Abisha Benson, of Minneapolis, is now living. There was not a school house or M. E. church building in his territory, and for about one year he preached and worked as best he could.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Brooklyn Center, 1852 to 1980

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1852
    FoundingBrooklyn Center is established
  3. 1873Post officeThe Brooklyn Centre post office opens
  4. 1893Post officeThe Brooklyn Centre post office closes
  5. 1893Post officeThe Brooklyn Center post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1902On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1907Post officeThe Brooklyn Center post office closes
  9. 1968Born hereDebra Hilstrom is born here
  10. 1973In the archiveSITE OF AN ABANDONED SAND AND GRAVEL OPERATION ON THE WEST BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER …
  11. 1978Born hereSteve Yeager is born here
  12. 1980In the archiveBrookdale Library 1980
By decade

Brooklyn Center, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1970s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s5 items
SITE OF AN ABANDONED SAND AND GRAVEL OPERATION ON THE WEST BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN THE SUBURB OF BROOKLYN... -…1973SITE OF AN ABANDONED SAND AND GRAVEL OPERATION ON THE…TWO BARGES AT THE SITE OF AN ABANDONED SAND AND GRAVEL OPERATION ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. NEAR 55TH..…1973TWO BARGES AT THE SITE OF AN ABANDONED SAND AND GRAVE…WEST BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER NEAR 55TH AVENUE, NORTH, IN BROOKLYN CENTER, A SUBURB OF MINNEAPOLIS1973WEST BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER NEAR 55TH AVENUE, …WEST BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER NEAR 55TH AVENUE, NORTH, IN BROOKLYN CENTER, A SUBURB OF MINNEAPOLIS1973WEST BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER NEAR 55TH AVENUE, …WEST BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER NEAR 55TH AVENUE, NORTH, IN BROOKLYN CENTER, A SUBURB OF MINNEAPOLIS. BROKEN... - NA…1973WEST BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER NEAR 55TH AVENUE, …
1980s2 items
Brookdale Library 19801980Brookdale Library 1980Brookdale Library entrance 19801980Brookdale Library entrance 1980
1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today11 recent
Best Buy2012Best BuyBest Buy2012Best BuyBest Buy2012Best BuyAngry Birds display in Best Buy Brookyln Center2012Angry Birds display in Best Buy Brookyln CenterAisles taped off2012Aisles taped offInterstate 94 - Minnesota2011Interstate 94 - MinnesotaInterstate 94 - Minnesota2011Interstate 94 - MinnesotaInterstate 94 - Minnesota2011Interstate 94 - MinnesotaInterstate 94 - Minnesota2011Interstate 94 - MinnesotaBrooklynCenterHennepin2007BrooklynCenterHennepinMNMap-doton-Brooklyn Center2005MNMap-doton-Brooklyn Center
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

SITE OF AN ABANDONED SAND AND GRAVEL OPERATION ON THE WEST BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN THE SUBURB OF BROOKLYN... -…
Retake this viewSITE OF AN ABANDONED SAND AND GRAVEL OPERATION ON THE WEST BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN THE SUBURB OF BROOKLYN... -…, 1973

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Brooklyn Center’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Brooklyn Center, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 35,173

Between 788 and 35,173 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Brooklyn Center’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Brooklyn Center

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
D
Debra HilstromAmerican politician · b. 1968
Steve YeagerAmerican politician · b. 1978
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Brooklyn Center had its own post office from 1893 to 1907. Another post office, Brooklyn Centre, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Brooklyn Centre
1873–1893
Brooklyn Center
1893–1907
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Brooklyn Center Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Brooklyn Center
Mound

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Brooklyn Center’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSITE OF AN ABANDONED SAND AND GRAVEL OP…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Brooklyn ParkIts storyC−CrystalIts storyC−Fridley1 historic placeB−Robbinsdale2 historic placesB−Minneapolis152 historic placesA

Questions about Brooklyn Center’s history

What year was Brooklyn Center founded?

In 1852, according to Wikidata. Brooklyn Center’s post office opened in 1873, and the census of 1920 counted 788 people here.

How does Brooklyn Center rank for history?

Brooklyn Center is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns, #234 of 273 in Minnesota. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Brooklyn Center?

3% of Brooklyn Center’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1962.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (18), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.