East Grand Forks, MN

East Grand Forks Map

East Grand Forks is a city in Polk County, Minnesota in the United States. The population was 8,601 at the 2010 Census, making it the largest community in Polk County.

It is located in the Red River Valley region along the eastern bank of the Red River of the North, directly across from the larger city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. The twin cities of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks form the center of the Grand Forks, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is often called Greater Grand Forks. The metropolitan area had an estimated population of 98,461 on April 1, 2010.

East Grand Forks, along with Grand Forks, was heavily damaged by a major flood in 1997. The entire city was under a mandatory evacuation and almost no homes were spared damage. After the flood, several neighborhoods had to be demolished. The city has rebuilt itself and the once inundated downtown area now contains a number of new businesses including a Cabela's sporting goods store. A new system of dikes has been constructed to protect the city from future flooding. The land bordering the Red and Red Lake rivers has been cleared of developments and is now a large park known as the Greater Grand Forks Greenway.

Nearby cities include Grand Forks, Thompson, Manvel, Fisher, Emerado.