Minden, Louisiana

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Coordinates: 32°37′0″N 93°17′0″W / 32.61667°N 93.28333°W / 32.61667; -93.28333
Minden, Louisiana
City
The combined Minden City Hall and Convention Center opened on Broadway Street in 1970.
Country United States
State Louisiana
Parish Webster
Elevation 253 ft (77.1 m)
Coordinates 32°37′0″N 93°17′0″W / 32.61667°N 93.28333°W / 32.61667; -93.28333
Area 12.0 sq mi (31.1 km2)
 - land 11.9 sq mi (31 km2)
 - water 0.1 sq mi (0 km2), 0.83%
Population 13,082 (2010)
Density 1,095.2 / sq mi (422.9 / km2)
Established 1836
Mayor Marvin Thomas "Tommy" Davis (R)

Police Chief - Steven Wayne Cropper (I)
Current City Council by district:
A - Wayne Edwards (D)
B - Fayrine Kennon-Gilbert (D)
C - Magaline Quarles (D)
D - Michael Scott Toland (R)
E - Lawson Benny Gray (I)

Timezone CST (UTC-6)
 - summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP code 71055
Area code 318
Location of Minden in Louisiana
Location of Louisiana in the United States
Website: http://www.mindenusa.com
The Federal Building (constructed 1959) at 111 South Monroe Street in Minden houses the post office.
Downtown Minden welcome sign on Main Street
The Minden Coca-Cola Bottling Plant is a distribution center at 412 Pine Street across from Minden Cemetery.

Minden is a small city in and the parish seat of Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. [4] is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport (in Caddo Parish). The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,082 at the 2010 census. The 2000 population had been 13,027; growth over the decade was hence .4 of 1 percent. Minden is 51.7 percent African American.[5]

Minden is the principal city of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the larger Shreveport-Bossier City-Minden Combined Statistical Area.

Minden has possessed a post office since 1839.[6] The current postal building at 111 South Monroe Street was completed in 1959.

The community has been served by a newspaper since the 1850s. The current publication, the Minden Press-Herald, is located in a building previously occupied by a supermarket on Gleason Street south of Broadway Street. The Press-Herald became a daily newspaper on July 18, 1966, but was earlier published as two weekly papers, the Minden Press on Mondays and the Minden Herald on Thursdays. For a time there was also the Webster Signal-Tribune.[7]

On October 15, 2012, an ordnance bunker at nearby Camp Minden exploded, but the blast was contained with minimal damage. Camp Minden is the site of the former Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant, once the major area employer.[8] In December 2012, police began the removal of 2,700 tons of explosives from Camp Minden, leading to evacuations in the nearby town of Doyline.[9]

Geography

Minden has an elevation of 253 feet (77.1 m)[10]. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.0 square miles (31 km2), of which, 11.9 square miles (31 km2) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km2) of it (0.75%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census[11] of 2000, there were 13,027 people, 5,166 households, and 3,430 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,095.2 people per square mile (423.0/km²). There were 5,795 housing units at an average density of 487.2 per square mile (188.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 46.34% White, 52.17% African American, 0.31% Native American, 0.27% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.21% from other races, and 0.65% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.61% of the population.

There were 5,166 households, out of which 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.6% were married couples living together, 22.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.6% were non-families. 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the city of Minden, the population was spread out with 27.0% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 25.3% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years, higher than the state median age of 34.0 years. For every 100 females there were 84.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $24,175, and the median income for a family was $31,477. Males had a median income of $28,401 versus $19,199 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,114. About 21.0% of families and 26.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 39.3% of those under age 18 and 20.1% of those age 65 or over.

History

Early settlement

Among the original settlers in the Minden area was Newitt Drew, a Welshman originally from Virginia, who built a gristmill and sawmill on Dorcheat Bayou in south Webster Parish in what became the since defunct Overton community. Minden itself was established in 1836 by Charles H. Veeder, a native of Schenectady, New York, who named it for the city of Minden in Germany.[12] Veeder left Minden during the California Gold Rush and spent the rest of his life practicing law in Bakersfield, California.[13]

A year before Veeder arrived, a group from Phillipsburg (now Monaca, Pennsylvania), led by the Countess Leon, settled seven miles (11 km) northeast of Minden in what was then Claiborne Parish. For nearly four decades, this Germantown Colony operated on a communal basis.[14] It was dispersed in 1871, when Webster Parish was severed from Claiborne Parish.[15] The "Countess" moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where she died in 1881.[14]

One of three Utopian Society settlements in this area, the Germantown Colony was the most successful and lasted the longest, having peaked at fifty to sixty pioneers but usually with fewer than forty followers. The settlement had been planned by the countess’ husband, Bernhard Müller, known as the Count von Leon. He died of yellow fever on August 29, 1834, at Grand Ecore, four miles (6 km) from Natchitoches, before he reached Webster Parish.[16] Leon and his followers attempted to build an earthly utopia, socialist in practice, while awaiting for the Second Coming of Christ. For his religious views, Leon had been exiled from Germany. He intended to plant the settlement in Webster Parish to coincide with the latitude of Jerusalem, 31 degrees, 47 minutes. The colonists worshiped under oak trees at the center of the colony. They supported themselves from farming, with a concentration on cotton.[14] The settlement is preserved at the Germantown Colony and Museum.

A second museum in Minden, the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, named for Dorcheat Bayou, is located downtown at 116 Pearl Street near the post office. It preserves the cultural history of the city and parish from the 19th century.

Civil War

Statue of a Confederate soldier at the western end of Jacqueline Park in Minden near the point where Main and Broadway streets turn into the Shreveport Road.

During the American Civil War, a large Confederate encampment, which housed some 15,000 soldiers was located east of Minden. At the time Minden was a supply depot for the troops. Some thirty Confederate soldiers who died in the Battle of Mansfield and another engagement at Pleasant Hill are buried in the historic Minden Cemetery located at Pine and Goodwill streets and Bayou Avenue. A modern cemetery, Gardens of Memory, opened in 1957 off the Lewisville Road north of Minden.

In 1862, Confederate General Richard Taylor, son of Zachary Taylor, issued orders to round up deserters. According to the historian John D. Winters of Louisiana Tech University, near Minden were seen "many robust-looking men claiming to be 'discharged soldiers.'" General Taylor reported that a "'large number of persons liable to military service . . . , deserters, enrolled conscripts who have failed to report, between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, are to be found throughout the state.' He ordered militia officers and parish sheriffs to arrest all men who could not prove legal exemption or absence from military service because of furlough or parole. Liberal rewards were offered for the apprehension of such men."[17]

Governor Henry Watkins Allen tried to make the state self-sufficient during the war. A factory for the manufacture of cotton and wool cards was erected at Minden and in full operation by the end of the war.[18] In 1864-1865, divisions of General Camille Armand Jules Marie, Prince de Polignac, hero at Mansfield, and Maj. Gen. John H. Forney established winter quarters near Minden.[19]

Coldest state temperature

On February 13, 1890, Minden recorded the state's all-time coldest temperature, −16 °F (−27 °C) degrees during the height of the Great Blizzard. Another −16 °F (−27 °C) reading was recorded in Minden on February 2, 1899.[20] The humid subtropical climate, however, is usually mild in winter and mostly hot in summer.

Will Life

William L. "Will" Life (June 23, 1887 – October 1972) was from 1925 until his death the owner of the large Webb Hardware store in downtown Minden. A former member of the Minden City Council, who was defeated in 1938,[21] Life was sometimes known as the "father of modern Minden" because of his civic leadership.[22]

Life attended the former Minden Male Academy, which was located at what is now Academy Park. He graduated from Minden High School in 1905 and was a member of the 1904 basketball team. He resided in Minden his entire eighty-five years except during World War I, when he served for three years in the United States Army Signal Corps. On June 23, 1972, four months before Life's death, Mayor Tom Colten proclaimed "Will Life Day" in Minden. Life is interred at Minden Cemetery.[22]

1933 tornado

1933 Disastrous year at Dorcheat Historical Association Museum in Minden

During the Great Depression, one of the two Minden banks failed. Five banks now exist, Minden Building and Loan, Capital One, Regions, Citizens, and Richland State. On May 1, 1933, a tornado destroyed some 20 percent of the residences in Minden. Thereafter a fire destroyed much of the business district and many homes. During the national bank holiday in 1933, the funds of both Minden citizens and businesses were frozen, making recovery from the tornado and the fire more difficult. Later, a summer flood destroyed a third of the crops in the area. Because of these quadruple tragedies, 1933 has been called the "Year of Disaster" in Minden.[23][24]

Ben F. Turner, Sr. (1883–1934), was the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway express agent in Minden and the volunteer fire chief. During the 1933 fire, he sustained a heart attack and hence died the next year of cardiac failure. Oddly, Ben Turner's grandfather had died in 1835 while fighting a fire at a brush arbor meeting in Georgia. Ben Turner's son, Harold Martin "Happy" Turner (1911–1988), was a well-known boarding house, restaurant owner, and civic booster in Minden.[25]

George N. Turner

Unrelated to Ben or Happy Turner, George N. Turner (1919-2013) of Minden won two Bronze Star medals and the Oak Leaf Cluster as a member of the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army. One of the Bronze Stars was for "bravery above and beyond the call of duty".[26] Turner was engaged in combat during World War II at Omaha Beach and the siege of Bastogne. He received a battlefield commission from General Maxwell D. Taylor and was discharged with the rank of captain. After his military service, Turner was the long-term office manager of the Minden branch of the Louisiana Department of Labor Workforce Commission, usually called "the employment office." Upon retirement from state civil service, Turner, a widely knownm figure in the community, completed at the age of sixty-five his college degree from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. For sixty-two years, he was a deacon of the First Baptist Church of Minden.[27]

1946 lynching case

A racially-tinged beating and lynching case in 1946 led to a parish-wide cover-up involving Minden police, the Webster Parish Sheriff's Department, the coroner's office, and several well-known individuals in the community. The crime was the only lynching in Louisiana that year. J. Edgar Hoover himself is quoted in FBI documents as having said: "We had incontrovertible evidence of a multiple-agency cover-up." [28]John Cecil Jones was an honorably-discharged veteran of World War II and a cousin of Albert Harris, Jr. A woman in rural Webster Parish was the catalyst of a trespassing investigation that involved both Jones and Harris, who was questioned by a sheriff's deputy and subsequent sheriff, O.H. Haynes, Jr., about the alleged crime. Harris was released to a mob in nearby Dixie Inn, taken to a rural area and bound, covered, and beaten by several other men. Albert Harris, Sr., feared for his son's life and sent him out of the state. Deputy Sheriff Haynes went to retrieve Harris from his house. When he arrived and discovered that Harris, Sr., had sent the son away, Haynes broke the senior Harris' jaw. Harris, Jr., was eventually delivered to Haynes' custody. John Cecil Jones, the cousin, was picked up at his workplace in Cotton Valley. Both were jailed, tortured, and beaten multiple times by Haynes and another deputy, Charles Edwards. On August 8, 1946, Haynes released both men to a mob in front of the old jail. The two were driven south of Minden. Jones received the brunt of the beatings and torture. Both were left for dead.[29]

This is an excerpt from the report of Webster Parish Coroner Dr. Thomas A. Richardson on the death of Jones:

Head shows numerous bruises, face is blackened from trauma, laceration on right side of head between right ear and occiput (back of head), eyes were degenerated, face and neck show numerous bruises, left shoulder was burned, arms were darkened from being bound, severe blow on right-side back and shoulder, numerous bruises on the back, chest and ribs were thrashed and beaten and caved in to the point where the skin had been sheared off, they slashed his scrotum, knees and legs were badly bruised, calves and arms were darkened, hands and feet had sand on them as if they had been in water, green fluid exudes from the mouth when pressure is applied to the abdomen; body found on [Minden businessman] Frank Treat's pond."[30]

According to R. Harmon Drew, later a state representative but then the assistant district attorney for Bossier and Webster parishes, jail records had been manipulated. According to the FBI, Dr. Richardson tampered with and concealed evidence taken from the crime scene, including a mechanical pencil and a wristwatch.[31]

Whitfield Jack of Shreveport, Barry Booth, A. S. Drew, and Harmon Caldwell Drew were defense attorneys for Haynes, Edwards, and the other defendants. R. Harmon Drew was defense counsel for the then Minden Police Chief Benjamin Geary Gantt, who was ultimately not indicted, although multiple witnesses' testimony stated that various city police officers had escorted the mob vehicles to the city limits. Newspaper writer Paul Corvin likened city police at the time to the Gestapo but did not write such accordingly out of fear for his life.[32]

Eugene H. Lowe, Jr., the American Legion post vice-commander, likened local law enforcement personnel to outlaws. His sentiments echoed those of the reporter Paul Corvin.[33] Eventually, Harris, Jr., fled Louisiana, and the NAACP and the FBI became involved in the case. Federal indictments were handed down and deputies Haynes and Edwards and four others were arrested and tried for violating the civil rights of Jones and Harris, Jr. Ultimately, an all-white jury did not convict any of the six defendants.[34]

Minden businesses

Minden has a large number of businesses and an active Chamber of Commerce, which maintains offices near the intersection of Broadway and the Sibley Road. Two former executive directors of the chamber were elected mayor, Tom Colten in 1966 and Paul A. Brown in 1989.

The Webster Parish Courthouse, completed in 1953, is located just west of its former location, which in the early 1970s became a parking lot for the Minden City Hall/Civic Center.

In February 2014, the Fibrebond Corporation, which builds concrete shelters, announced a $2.5 million capital expansion project which will revive an inactive container mill adjacent to the company's existing manufacturing site in Minden. The expansion will create 225 jobs, which will pay $3,000 gross per month. Some twenty-five additional jobs will also become available temporarily for the pending construction work at the site.[35]


Coca Cola bottling in Minden

Larry B. Hunter (1896–1971) and his wife, the former Gladys Powell (1899–1973), a native of Sibley, for decades operated the Coca-Cola Bottling Company outlet at 412 Pine Street in Minden. The company was founded by Hunter's father, William S. Hunter, a native of New Orleans, as Minden Bottling Works, Ltd. When the senior Hunter died in 1919, Larry Hunter, at the age of twenty-three, took over the plant.[36]

While soft drinks were bottled at the facility into the 1960s, the former plant is now a distribution center. It is located across from the Minden Cemetery. The Hunters also subsidized the Minden Redbirds semi-professional baseball team and built the former Hunter's recreation complex, which served the youth of Minden from 1940 to 1965. In 1950, Gladys Hunter, became the first woman ever to be elected to the Webster Parish School Board, on which she served for two six-year terms.

Joe Elmer Hunter (1926-2013), one of the Hunters' sons, served in the United States Navy in World War II under Admiral Chester Nimitz. He was the warehouse manager and supervised the bottling line at the Minden operation until 1979, when he entered into the United Methodist ministry. He continued until his death to serve on the company board of directors.[37]

Theaters have closed

In the mid-20th century, Minden had two film theaters and a third drive-in facility. To promote the film industry, in 1951, theater owners Edgar Beach Hands, Jr. (1905–1972), and Ruth Cobb Cheshire Lowe (1906-1991) hosted several film stars in a visit to the city. One was a future U.S. senator from California, George Murphy. Another was Robert Stack of the later ABC television series The Untouchables. Jesse White, best known for Maytag commercials, also visited.[38] By the late 1970s, Minden had no theaters. Its last was the West Plaza Twin Cinema, a building still standing off the Homer Road. In the 21st century, several motion pictures have been filmed in the city and the surrounding areas of Webster Parish. Numerous cities and towns smaller than Minden still have maintained demand for a theater.

Though it has no theater, Minden is the city of license for CW affiliate KPXJ, Channel 21.

Education

Main building at new Northwest Louisiana Technical College campus off the Interstate 20 service road; groundbreaking was held on September 6, 2013, with Governor Bobby Jindal, among others, cutting the ribbon.[1]
Renovated Minden High School (2007) on College Street

The Webster Parish School Board maintains administrative offices at 1442 Sheppard Street. Minden High School, located just north of the downtown, completed major renovation in 2007. The original Minden High School located adjacent to the current campus dates to the turn of the 20th century.

Northwest Louisiana Technical College, a vocational technical institution, was formerly located on Constable Street near the Webster Parish fairgrounds and Griffith Stadium, a baseball field, where the former Minden Redbirds semi-professional team played. Governor Earl Kemp Long had included a trade school for Webster Parish in his 1948 platform, and State Senator Drayton R. Boucher and State Representative C.W. Thompson set about getting the initial $175,000 in funding through the legislature.[39]

In the summer of 2013, Northwest Technical College was relocated to a new and expanded site on the Interstate 20 service road. State Senator Robert Adley, who represents Webster and Bossier parishes, successfully sponsored SB 204, which will provide $251.6 million in financing and construction for twenty-nine projects at various technical college campuses across the state, including the new Minden facility.[40]

Elementary schools in Minden include E. S. Richardson, J. L. Jones, and J. E. Harper schools. In a cost-cutting move, the board in 2011 closed William G. Stewart Elementary School (built 1949), and the structure was quickly razed thereafter, leaving behind only a vacant field on Middle Landing Street.

The middle school, Webster Junior High School, is located on East Union Street at the site of the former historically black Webster High School, which closed in 1975, with desegregation into Minden High School. The previous junior high school, Theresa M. Lowe Junior High School located at 109 Clerk Street near the fairgrounds, was closed after desegregation and converted into an alternative school. Theresa Lowe (1907-1959), namesake of the former junior high school, graduated from Rayville High School in Rayville in Richland Parish in northeastern Louisiana and received her Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. She taught seventh grade at the former Minden Junior High School and was a leader in the Louisiana Teachers Association, since renamed Louisiana Association of Educators. Two of her brothers practiced law together in Springhill. Charles McConnell was also the mayor of Springhill from 1954 to 1958, and Nathaniel Julius McConnell, Sr., was the city judge there from 1956 until 1986.[41][42]

The private academy known as the Glenbrook School, located on Country Club Circle off the Lewisville Road, began in 1970 within the First Baptist Church of Minden.

The Louisiana Missionary Baptist Institute and Seminary, which offers bachelor's, master's, and doctor of theology degrees, is located off the Homer Road in east Minden. The theologically conservative institution was opened in 1952 by the then pastor L. L. Clover of Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, which is located adjacent to the seminary.

The main branch of the Webster Parish Library is located on East and West Street in Minden in a newer structure which opened in 1996. The $3 million library project, which included renovation of the previous plant to the right of the new structure, was funded through a 20-year bond issue. In a 17 percent turnout in a special election held in October 1993, voters approved the bond issue, 2,600 to 957.[43]

Notable residents

Politics

Fred Thomas "Tony" Elzen, Sr. (1921-2012), a member of the Minden City Council from 1958 to 1962 and from 1966 to 1974, is pictured here as the grand marshal of the Minden Christmas parade, 2007. An annual golf tournament named for Elzen is held each summer in Minden.[2]

Sports

Turner's Pond off the Lewisville Road as photographed from Lakeview United Methodist Church
Plaques of the ten military personnel from Minden who died in the Vietnam War are displayed at the Veterans Memorial on Turner's Pond
Veterans Day parade, 2013, in downtown Minden
Griffith Memorial Stadium on Constable Street is named for B. F. Griffith, Sr. (1867-1960), the Webster Parish sheriff from 1900 to 1908 who is considered the father of the Webster Parish Fair. The stadium hosts baseball games.[3]
The Minden Recreation Center off Interstate 20

Others

Hank Williams married in Minden

Country singer Hank Williams, Sr., married Billie Jean Jones Eshliman in Minden on October 18, 1952. The next day, the couple repeated the vows in two separate public ceremonies. Less than three months later, Williams was dead. A judge ruled that the wedding was not legal because Billie Jean's divorce did not become final until eleven days after she had married Williams. Thereafter, Billie Jean married another singing giant, Johnny Horton. Horton died in 1960 and is interred at Hillcrest Cemetery in Haughton in Bossier Parish.[96]

In popular culture

On January 9, 2012, MTV premiered the reality television show Caged, about mixed martial artists fighting to gain the means to leave Minden.

Minden gallery

  • First Baptist Church at 301 Pennsylvania Avenue; since 2009, Leland Crawford has served as the senior pastor; George Washington Baines, maternal great-grandfather of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, was the founding pastor in the 19th century.
  • First United Methodist Church at 903 Broadway across from the water tower in downtown Minden
  • Established in 1955 as a mission at the Forestry Building at the Webster Parish Fairgrounds, Eastside Missionary Baptist Church (pastor Richard D. Methvin), located at Park Highway and Germantown Road since March 2, 1956, completed major renovation in 2008.
  • Calvary Missionary Baptist Church (founded 1930) at 1400 Homer Road (pastor James A. Crain).
  • Louisiana Missionary Baptist Institute and Seminary (founded in a pastor's home in 1952) is adjacent to its principal sponsor, Calvary Church.
  • The Minden Presbyterian Church at 1001 Broadway is located within the Minden Historic District.
  • St. John's Episcopal Church at 1107 Broadway, also in the Minden Historic District
  • Earlier located for decades at 609 Goodwill Street near the parish fairgrounds under the pastor T. W. Barnes, who served there in the pulpit from 1947 until his death in 2006, the First United Pentecostal Church now occupies new quarters at 612 Highway 531.
  • Formerly downtown across from the courthouse, St. Paul Catholic Church is located at 410 Fincher Road.
  • The African American Good Samaritan Missionary Baptist Church is located at 1000 Shreveport Road at the former site of Calvary Church.
  • Saint Rest Baptist Church, another African-American congregation, is located at 611 East Union Street. The Reverend Benjamin F. Martin (died 2012) was the pastor for forty-six years.[1]
  • Main Street in Minden facing west
  • Downtown Minden with the signature water tower in the background
  • The main Webster Parish Library operates on East and West Street in Minden, with branches located throughout the parish.
  • The Minden Community House is located at Victory Park in this facility completed in 1987 by the W-M Construction Company of Minden, after the previous contractor, Tarver Brothers of Shreveport, defaulted on the project. The previous community house building was razed.[2]
  • A barber shop has operated for decade at this Main Street location.
  • Attractive but small Academy Park in the Minden Historic District is the site of the former Minden Male Academy.
  • Minden Historic Residential District sign in Academy Park
  • The McDonald-Monk House, built in Victorian style in 1904 at the intersection of Lewisville Road and East and West Street in the Historic Residential District, was added in 1986 to the National Register of Historic Places. The house is named for its builder, the banker J. W. McDonald, and the educator Miriam Robinson Monk (1923-2006), who purchased it in 1968.
  • Dorcheat Historical Association Museum at 116 Pearl Street near the post office sponsors monthly public lectures.
  • Pine Hills Country Club main building
  • Minden branch of the Richland State Bank, based n Rayville
  • Citizens Bank, built as Webster Bank in 1910, was renovated and reopened in 2001 at 704 Main Street in Minden next to Clyde Stanley's Karate School. Built in Ionic style, the bank is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  • Regions Bank in Minden occupies the site of the former Minden Bank and Trust Company across Main Street from the Webster Parish Courthouse.
  • Minden Building and Loan (MBL) Bank on Main Street
  • One of the oldest continuous businesses in Minden is the Western Auto dealership operated downtown by John P. Collins and previously by his grandfather and mother.
  • The former Holland Crawford Insurance agency clock has long been a mainstay of downtown Minden. The company was founded by Castle O. Holland (1895-1981) and his son-in-law, Wayne S. Crawford.
  • Minden Medical Center, located downtown, ranks among the "Top 100" hospitals in the nation.
  • The Minden Chamber of Commerce office at the intersection of Broadway and the Sibley Road
  • Neta's Drive In, known for its barbecue, has operated at 1433 Shreveport Road since 1955, when it was an A&W Root Beer outlet.
  • Fountain behind the Veterans Memorial at Turner's Pond near E.S. Richardson Elementary School
  • This historic bell, a gift to the City of Minden by the James Powell family of Blazer Construction Company, hanged over the former Webster Parish Courthouse building from 1905 to 1951.
  • The SGT. Joshua B. Madden Interchange off Interstate 20 in Minden honors a local hero killed in the line of duty in 2006 in the Iraq War.
  • Historic Dorcheat Bayou between Minden and Dixie Inn is a popular fishing area.
  • Minden Municipal Electric Generating Station at 200 Horton Street
  • Historic Minden Cemetery has graves as far back as 1843 and the American Civil War. Many Minden mayors are interred there.
  • Gardens of Memory Cemetery (established 1957) is located off the Lewisville Road.


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References

  1. ↑ "Jeri Bloxom, NWLTC holds grand opening, September 9, 2013". Minden Press-Herald. Retrieved September 10, 2013. 
  2. ↑ "Services scheduled for Elzen". Minden Press-Herald. Retrieved August 3, 2012. 
  3. ↑ "Father of Local Fair Buried Here Today", Minden Herald, October 6, 1960, p. 1
  4. ↑ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  5. ↑ "2010 Census". quickfacts.census.gov. Retrieved April 27, 2012. 
  6. ↑ "Post Offices in Webster Parish, Louisiana". 
  7. ↑ Minden Press-Herald, July 18, 1966
  8. ↑ "Camp Minden bunker explosion rocks region". Shreveport Times. Retrieved 2012-10-16. 
  9. ↑ "Tonnes of explosives found in US town". 3 News NZ. December 4, 2012. 
  10. ↑ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  11. ↑ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  12. ↑ Edwin Adams Davis (1999). Rivers and Bayous of Louisiana. Pelican Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4556-1130-0. Retrieved August 24, 2009. 
  13. ↑ "Charles Hanson Veeder", A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, Vol. 2 (1988), pp. 809-810
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 David James, III, "Germantown: Once Thriving and Socialistic", Minden Press, July 7, 1958, pp. 1-2
  15. ↑ ”Respect for the Past, Confidence in the Future”, Webster Parish Centennial, 1871–1971, pp. 13-14
  16. ↑ Brochure, Germantown Colony and Museum, 120 Museum Road, Minden, LA 71055
  17. ↑ John David Winters; John James Kushma, University of Texas at Arlington (1963). The Civil War in Louisiana. LSU Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-8071-1725-5. 
  18. ↑ Winters, pp. 319, 408
  19. ↑ Winters, p. 382
  20. ↑ 1 p.m. News, KEEL Radio, Shreveport, Louisiana, February 2, 2011
  21. ↑ "Heavy Ballot Is Cast in Primary Election Tuesday," Minden Herald, April 8, 1938, p. 3
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Minden Press-Herald, June 21, 1972, p. 1
  23. ↑ "Minden, La.". triptrivia.com. Retrieved March 27, 2011. 
  24. ↑ "Connell Fort Dies Saturday Night at His Residence Here: Was Great Civic Worker and Builder of This City," Webster Signal-Tribune, March 5, 1937, pp. 1, 6
  25. ↑ "Services for Happy Turner Thursday", Minden Press-Herald, September 14, 1988, p. 1
  26. ↑ "George Turner: Local Hero". Minden Press-Herald, July 4, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2013. 
  27. ↑ "George Turner". Shreveport Times. Retrieved May 31, 2013. 
  28. ↑ FBI File 44-1444.
  29. ↑ FBI File 44-1444.
  30. ↑ FBI File 44-1444.
  31. ↑ FBI File 44-1444.
  32. ↑ FBI File 44-1444.
  33. ↑ FBI File 44-1444.
  34. ↑ FBI File 44-1444.
  35. ↑ "Fibrebond expansion means 225 new jobs in Louisiana". Business Week. Retrieved February 4, 2014. 
  36. ↑ Minden Herald, November 7, 1955
  37. ↑ "Joe Elmer Hunter". rose-neath.com. Retrieved December 30, 2013. 
  38. ↑ "Movie Stars Coming to Minden Thursday, Dec. 6", Minden Press, November 30, 1951, p. 1
  39. ↑ "Thompson, Boucher Working for Trade School in Webster", Minden Herald, May 26, 1950, p. 1
  40. ↑ Minden Press-Herald, June 20, 2013, p. 1
  41. ↑ Minden Press, November 18, 1954, p. 1
  42. ↑ N. J. McConnell, Sr., Springhill Cemetery grave marker
  43. ↑ "New library in future for Webster Parish", Minden Press-Herald, October 18, 1993, p. 1
  44. ↑ "Blackburn, William Jasper - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved 22 September 2010. 
  45. ↑ Press-Herald Staff. "Mary Eloise Martin Bolin". Minden Press-Herald. Retrieved 27 September 2010. 
  46. ↑ "In memoriam". Louisiana Supreme Court. Retrieved 27 September 2010. 
  47. ↑ "The Boucher Company, Inc.: Profile of Jesse L. Boucher". boucherco.com. Retrieved September 1, 2009. 
  48. ↑ "Parey P. Branton". Shreveport Times. Retrieved September 16, 2011. 
  49. ↑ "Bridges Rites Held Monday: Former Mayor Succumbs to Heart Attack", Minden Herald, April 14, 1939, p. 1
  50. ↑ Minden Herald, April 7, 1944, p. 1
  51. ↑ "Official Returns Given for Minden Primary Election", Minden Herald, April 14, 1944, p. 1
  52. ↑
    • Minden Press-Herald, November 9, 1966, November 4, 1970, November 8, 1978
  53. ↑ "About Judge Scott Crichton". judgescottcrichton.com. Retrieved August 28, 2013. 
  54. ↑ Election results, Webster Review and Webster Signal-Tribune, April 14, 1942, p. 1
  55. ↑ Minden Press-Herald, April 6, 1974, p. 1
  56. ↑ "Webster: Mayor City of Minden, October 19, 2013". lasos.blob.core.windows.net. Retrieved October 19, 2013. 
  57. ↑ Allen J.M. Smith, "Doerge dies early today of heart ailment," Minden Press-Herald, April 17, 1998
  58. ↑ "Judge Harmon Drew, Jr". Second Circuit Court of Appeal. lacoa2.org. Retrieved 27 September 2010. 
  59. ↑ Minden Press-Herald, December 19, 1995
  60. ↑ "Drew Family". mindenmemories.org. Retrieved June 5, 2011. 
  61. ↑ "John C. Fleming homepage". fleming.house.gov. Retrieved 27 September 2010. 
  62. ↑ "Connell Fort Dies Saturday Night at His Residence Here: Was Great Civic Worker and Builder of This City", Webster Signal-Tribune, March 5, 1937, pp. 1, 6
  63. ↑ "Webster Parish hsitorian John Agan, "Webster Superintendents of Schools"". mindenmemories.org. Retrieved August 21, 2011. 
  64. ↑ "Gleason Final Rites Held at Evergreen Today", Minden Herald, July 27, 1959
  65. ↑ "W. E. Gleason to Seek State Rep. Post", Minden Herald, August 3, 1959, p. 1
  66. ↑ Minden Herald, May 12, 1955, p. 1
  67. ↑ "Henry Hobbs obituary". Shreveport Times, January 2, 2013. Retrieved January 3, 2013. 
  68. ↑ "Huckaby, Thomas Jerald". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved 27 September 2010. 
  69. ↑ Minden Press, January 9, 1956, p. 8
  70. ↑ Report of the Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Returns of Open Primary Election September 16, 1978", Member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, Fifth District
  71. ↑ "Robert Floyd Kennon". sos.luisiana.gov. Retrieved 27 September 2010. 
  72. ↑ "Graydon K. Kitchens, Jr., attorney". lawyer.com. Retrieved November 27, 2013. 
  73. ↑ Kerry B. Garland, "Fifty Years for Colonel Kitchens", Minden Press-Herald, September 10, 1976, p. 1
  74. ↑ "Coleman Lindsey". archives. Retrieved July 10, 2009. 
  75. ↑ "Judge Cecil C. Lowe obituary". Shreveport Times. Retrieved February 27, 2013. 
  76. ↑ "Ex-Mayor of Minden Dies at 83", The Times (Shreveport), March 5, 1955, p. 8-B
  77. ↑ "Charles Marvin". genealogybuff.com. Retrieved November 26, 2013. 
  78. ↑ "Obituary of Enos Carr McClendon, Jr.". genealogybuff.com. Retrieved June 8, 2012. 
  79. ↑ "Judge J. F. McInnis Will Retire Soon", Minden Herald, December 18, 1953, p. 1
  80. ↑ "Mims Will Not Seek Another Term", Minden Press-Herald, undated 1975 article
  81. ↑ Minden Press-Herald, October 27, 1971, p. 7
  82. ↑ Minden Press-Herald, November 9, 1966
  83. ↑ "Dr. E. Richardson, 75, Dies Wednesday in Ruston Hospital", Minden Herald, October 12, 1950, p. 1
  84. ↑ "Nikki Henderson, "Mayor of Minden has passed away"". arkaltexhomepage.com. Retrieved June 27, 2013. 
  85. ↑ "J. Berry Sandefur Buried Tuesday", Minden Herald, July 16, 1954, p. 1
  86. ↑ "Sandlin, John Nicholas". bioguide.congress.vgov. Retrieved 27 September 2010. 
  87. ↑ "Obituary", The Times (Shreveport)
  88. ↑ "Rites for A. D. Turner Held Saturday 3 p.m.", Minden Press, January 1, 1954, p. 1
  89. ↑ "Watkins, John Thomas". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved 27 September 2010. 
  90. ↑ Booth obituary, The Times (Shreveport), July 2, 1972
  91. ↑ "Larry Brewer obituary", Minden Press-Herald, May 26, 2003
  92. ↑ Jeff Clemons, sports editor, "Doherty" More than a coach," Minden Press-Herald, January 3, 1988
  93. ↑ "Tate Passed Up by NFL Teams," Minden Press-Herald, April 29, 1987
  94. ↑ James Gulledge, "A Hero Remembered," Minden Press-Herald, November 11, 2011, p. 1
  95. ↑ Walter White (1995). A man called White: the autobiography of Walter White. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-1698-7. Retrieved 27 September 2010. 
  96. ↑ Bill Morrison. "Rockabilly Country News & Views". Retrieved September 27, 2010. 

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