About the town » Columbia Heights, Anoka County, Minnesota, United States

Columbia Heights is a city in Anoka County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 19,496 at the 2010 census. Columbia Heights was formed as a village on March 14, 1898 when it separated from Fridley Township. On July 21, 1921 the Charter of the City of Columbia Heights was adopted and the city was formed. Minnesota State Highways 47 and 65 (Central Avenue) are two of the main arterial routes in the city. Columbia Heights is a first-ring northern suburb of Minneapolis, which it borders on the south. Its downtown district is centered on the corner 40th Avenue NE and Central Avenue, and includes the Heights Theater, county offices, the Public Library, and a variety of businesses, including a plethora of auto parts stores. Central Avenue forms a commercial district along its length. More businesses line University Avenue. Columbia Heights, the Heights Jamboree, Hylander, and many other references to the city and Minnesota appear in Pat Proft's 1998 film Wrongfully Accused. A Polish flag and white eagle are on the sign marking the border between Columbia Heights and Minneapolis, visible when entering Columbia Heights on Central Avenue, in celebration of the suburb's early roots as a Polish-American community. In 1991, Columbia Heights joined Sister Cities International and selected Lomianki, Poland as its Sister City. In 1944, a plane of Allied flyers was shot down during the Warsaw uprising, near Lomianki. The brother of a long time Columbia Heights resident was on that mission. In 1987, the people of Lomianki erected a monument in memory of the American flyers who lost their lives. Because of this personal connection Lomianki was selected as our Sister City.