Minden, Louisiana

== History ==
[[File:Louisiana - Miden - NARA - 23940429 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Aerial view of Minden, 1935]]
[[File:Louisiana - Miden - NARA - 23940431 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Aftermath of the 1933 tornado]]
[[File:Louisiana - Miden - NARA - 23940433 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Aftermath of the 1933 tornado]]
Minden was established in 1836 by Charles Veeder. Native sons include [[Gene Austin]] and [[Louis Dunbar]].

The town's name is derived from the German city of [[Minden]]. 

The city of Minden was used as a blueprint for the fictional city of Bon Temps, the setting of the [[Southern Vampire Mysteries]] series by [[Charlaine Harris]].

During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], a large [[Confederate Army|Confederate]] encampment was located inside of Minden. It housed about 15,000 Confederate soldiers. The town served as a supply depot for the Confederate Army. Close to thirty Confederate soldiers who died in the Battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill are buried in the Old Minden Cemetery.

In the [[Great Blizzard of 1899]], Minden experienced the coldest temperature ever recorded in Louisiana, when the temperature fell on February 13, 1899 to {{convert|&minus;16|F|C|1|disp=or}}.<ref name="States">{{cite web | url=https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/scec/records#status | title=State Climate Extremes Committee - Records | publisher=[[National Centers for Environmental Information]] | accessdate=December 26, 2017}}</ref>

During the [[Great Depression]], one of the two Minden banks failed and a fire destroyed a major section of the downtown area (1931).

On May 1, 1933, a [[tornado]] occurred in the town, destroying 20% of the homes.