State space Riemannian geometry is obtained for the one-dimensional Blume-Emery-Griffiths model and its Blume-Capel and Griffiths model limits, and its (pseudo)critical as well as noncritical parameter regimes are extensively investigated. Two codimension one geometries are obtained by taking suitable hypersurfaces in the three-dimensional state space manifold, and the induced thermal metrics are accordingly interpreted in terms of constrained fluctuations. The three-dimensional scalar curvature and the two two-dimensional curvatures are shown to be consistent with Ruppeiner's conjecture relating the inverse of the singular free energy to the thermodynamic scalar curvature. Moreover, they are found to be in an excellent agreement over a greater part of the noncritical region with the corresponding correlation lengths for the spin and the quadrupolar order parameters. The scaling function for the free energy near the pseudocritical and tricritical points is obtained thermodynamically by using Ruppeiner's conjecture. A connection is made between the sign change in the curvatures and the change in fluctuation patterns of the order parameters. In the accompanying paper we shall analyze the geometry of the spin-one model in its mean field approximation.