Minden, Texas. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

The original town was a mile east of the present site. The Lewis family of Georgia settled here around 1849. The original site being a mile east of present-day Minden.

A post office was granted in 1850, with the name suggested by H. W. Watson, after his hometown in Louisiana. Minden was on the old Nacogdoches to Marshall stageline, so success seemed assured. In 1860 the community had a store, school and church.

In the 1880s G. I. Watkins opened a private school (The Rock Hill Institute) and by the middle of that decade the population was estimated to be 50 residents.

In the 1890s, Minden had a respectable 155 citizens as well as its own newspaper. The population was close to doubling in the 1890s but the 1900 census recorded only 223 residents.

It briefly rose to 250 residents in the mid 1940s, but fell to just 125 Mindenites for the 50s and 60s. In the late 60s it reached 350 people � which continues through the year 2010.

Minden TX Voting Box 316
Photo courtesy Gerald Massey, April 2011

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