Minden is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Rusk County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, United States. According to the

Handbook of Texas The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). History The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President Wal ...

, the community had a population of 350 in 2000. It is located within the

Longview, Texas metropolitan area The Longview metropolitan statistical area is a metropolitan area in Northeast Texas that covers three counties— Gregg, Rusk, and Upshur. As of the 2010 census the MSA had a population of 280,000 (though a July 1, 2019 estimate placed the pop ...

History

The original location of Minden was a mile east of where it currently stands today. The Lewis family relocated here from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in 1849. H.W. Watson named the community for his hometown of

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 2010 census, the city had a total population of 13,082. History Minden was established in 1836 by Charl ...

. A post office opened here in 1850 with William H. Pate serving as the first postmaster. In the next decade, the Marshall-to-Nacogdoches railroad built a track through Minden and had a store and a church. It then moved to its present site in the 1880s, in which it had 50 residents, a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

, and three churches in 1884. The population went up to 155 with

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

s, and a newspaper. It doubled during that decade but went down to 223 by the turn of the century. It went up to 250 in the mid-1940s, declined to 125 from the 1950s to 1960s, and went back up to 350 from the late 1960s through 2000.

Geography

Minden is located on Farm to Market Road 1798, southeast of

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada *He ...

in southeastern Rusk County. It is also located north of Mount Enterprise and southwest of

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Minden has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Minden, Texas
/ref>

Education

Minden had its own school in 1860. Rock Hill Institute was opened by G.I. Watkins in 1880 and was chartered in 1888. Today, the community is served by the

Henderson Independent School District Henderson Independent School District is a public school district based in Henderson, Texas ( USA). HISD is the largest school district in Rusk County. Current enrollment is 3,365 students and the district employees just over 600 teachers, administ ...

Notable person

* Oren Arnold, journalist and novelist, was born in Minden.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Rusk County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas