Minden, Louisiana

Minden, Louisiana
City
City of Minden
Minden City Hall and Convention Center
Location of Minden in Webster Parish, Louisiana.
Country	Template:Country data United States
States	Template:Country data Louisiana
Founded	1836 (1836)
Government
• Mayor	Nick Cox
Area
• Total	Template:Infobox settlement/areadisp
• Land	Template:Infobox settlement/areadisp
• Water	Template:Infobox settlement/areadisp
Population  (2020)	Template:Fix comma category
Population  (2020)
• Total	Template:Fix comma category
• Density	Template:Infobox settlement/densdisp
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	71055
Area code(s)	318
FIPS code	22-50885
Website	Minden, Louisiana

Minden is a city and parish seat in Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 11,928.

History

Aerial view of Minden, 1935

Aftermath of the 1933 tornado

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 Civil War, a large 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 −16 °F or −26.7 °C.

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.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 31.0 km² (12.0 mi²). 30.8 km² (11.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.75% water.

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	REDIRECT Template:Screen reader-only	%±
1850	533		—
1860	1,144		Template:Round%
1870	1,100		Template:Round%
1880	1,113		Template:Round%
1890	1,298		Template:Round%
1900	1,561		Template:Round%
1910	3,002		Template:Round%
1920	6,105		Template:Round%
1930	5,623		Template:Round%
1940	6,677		Template:Round%
1950	9,787		Template:Round%
1960	12,785		Template:Round%
1970	13,996		Template:Round%
1980	15,084		Template:Round%
1990	13,661		Template:Round%
2000	13,027		Template:Round%
2010	13,082		Template:Round%
2020	11,928		Template:Round%
U.S. Decennial Census

Minden racial composition as of 2020

Race	Number	Percentage
White (non-Hispanic)	4,966	41.63%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	6,352	53.25%
Native American	25	0.21%
Asian	60	0.5%
Pacific Islander	7	0.06%
Other/Mixed	334	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	184	1.54%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 11,928 people, 5,189 households, and 3,126 families residing in the city.

Notable people

• L'Jarius Sneed (born 1997), NFL cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs