On April 26, 2024, Minden was hit by a large EF3 wedge tornado, as part of a much larger tornado outbreak that affected the Great Plains region. A single fatality and 4 injuries were reported, and the city suffered extensive damage, with estimates of 40 to 50 homes destroyed, and some structures deemed completely lost. This came 48 years after a similarly destructive F4 tornado ripped through the town in 1976.
Passages that mention Minden, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, from the earliest historic times to 19071907 · page 220Read the page →
Read the text
Mr. Casper Foster, of Davenport, Iowa, purchased 10,000 acres of the Rock Island road, and a condition was thai the company should establish and maintain a station on this property. This was complied with, hence the town of Minden, named in memory of Minden back in the fatherland of most of these industrious settlers. The first house built in the town was by Bugq Prcster, Mr. Foster built the second and Peter Ehlers the third. G. Diederich built the first store in 1875, and moved in a general stock of goods from Avoca.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Containing a history from the earliest settlement to the present time ... biographical sketches1883 · page 47Read the page →
Read the text
It is recorded that Minden Township was organized in September, 1876, and the population in 1880 was 700. The village of Minden is located on the Chicago, Eock Island & Pacific Railroad. It contains about three hundred inhabitants, mostly- Germans. This is the place where most of the business of the township is transacted. Here you will find merchants and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Containing a history from the earliest settlement to the present time ... biographical sketches1883 · page 259Read the page →
Read the text
Minden Township fi^i'med a part of the township of Neola iintil 1877, when, through the efforts of IMi-. .James Crow and a number of other citizens of that portion of Neola Township subsequently forming Minden, the petition jirosented by them to the Board of Supervisors was granted, and a new township formed, to be known as Minden Town-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, from the earliest historic times to 19071907 · page 202Read the page →
Read the text
Although it has no town of its own it is in close touch with Hancock, Oakland, Minden or Avoca. There has been since its early settlement a large German element in its population and the first church was that of the German Methodist, who as early as 1873, had a flourishing organization, including a large Sunday school, and at that day had creeled a parsonage at a cost of $3,500. Since then another church has been established.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2024
2023
2014
2009
2009
2004