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Minden&o=10616
Minden&o=10616

Minden, Louisiana

Minden is a city in and the parish seat of Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census. It has possessed a post office since 1839.

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

The city is served by the newspaper, the Minden Press-Herald, which officially dates only to July 18, 1966, as a daily publication. It was previously two weekly papers, the Minden Press and the Minden Herald. A newspaper has existed in the community since the 1850s. The newspaper office is located on Gleason Street south of Broadway Street in a building once occupied by a supermarket.

Geography

Minden has an elevation of . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.0 square miles (31.0 km²), of which, 11.9 square miles (30.8 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (0.75%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census 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/sq mi (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

Minden was established in 1836 by Charles H. Veeder, who named it for a city in Germany. Veeder left Minden during the California Gold Rush and spent the rest of his life practicing law in Bakersfield, California.

During the American Civil War, a large Confederate encampment, which housed some fifteen thousand soldiers was located east of Minden. 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 off Pine Street. A modern cemetery, Gardens of Memory, opened in 1957 off the Lewisville Road north of town.

On February 13, 1890, Minden recorded the state's all-time coldest temperature, minus-16 degrees during the height of the Great Blizzard. The humid subtropical climate, however, is usually mild in winter and mostly hot in summer.

During the Great Depression, one of the two Minden banks failed, and a fire destroyed a major section of the downtown in 1931. Four banks now exist, Hibernia, Regions, Citizens, and Richland State. On May 1, 1933, a tornado destroyed some 20 percent of the residences in Minden.

The Hunter family for decades operated the Coca-Cola Bottling Company outlet in Minden. While soft drinks were produced at the facility into the 1960s, the facility is now a distribution center. It is located across from Minden Cemetery.

Artist Ben Earl Looney was born in the Yellow Pine community in south Webster Parish and graduated from Minden High School in 1923. He taught art throughout the United States in a career from the 1920s until his death in Lafayette in 1981.

Minden businesses

Minden has a large number of businesses and an active Chamber of Commerce, which maitains 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 the late 1950s, is located a few years west of its former location, which became a parking lot for the new Minden City Hall/Civic Center in the early 1970s.

Education

Minden is served by the Webster Parish School Board, an elected body which maintains administrative offices on Sheppard Street. Minden High School, located at the intersection of Sullivan and College streets, completed major renvoation in 2007. The original school dates to the turn of the 20th century.

There is a vocational technical school in Minden, Northwest Louisiana Technical College, located on Constable Street near the sites of the Webster Parish fairgrounds and Griffith Stadium, a baseball field, where the former Minden Redbirds semi-professional team played.

Elementary schools include E.S. Richardson, William G. Stewart, J.L. Jones, and J.E. Harper schools.

The middle school is located 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 near the technical college, was closed after desegregation and converted into an alternative school.

There is also the private Glenbrook School off the Lewisville Road toward Shongaloo, which began within the First Baptist Church in 1970.

Notable residents

Politics

Sports

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 buried in Hillcrest Cemetery east of Bossier City.

Minden gallery

References

External links

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Friday October 10, 2008 at 07:01:46 PDT (GMT -0700)
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