Minden, Nevada

Minden is a census-designated place (CDP) in Douglas County, Nevada, United States. As of the 2020 census, Minden had a population of 3,442. It is the county seat of Douglas County and is adjacent to the town of Gardnerville. The Douglas campus of the Western Nevada College is located in Minden.

History

It was founded in 1906 by Heinrich Friedrich Dangberg Jr., who named it after the town of Minden, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which was near his father's birthplace. A large share of the first settlers were Germans. Minden was founded on company land of the Dangberg Home Ranch and Dangberg commissioned most of the town's early buildings. Minden has had a post office since 1906.

Use of sundown siren and sundown town status

Minden sounded a "sundown siren" at 6pm almost every evening from 1917 until 2023, originally signifying that members of the Washoe Indian tribe were required to leave town by 6:30pm or face jail or fine. Douglas County fully repealed its sundown ordinance in the mid-1970s.

In 2021, the State of Nevada passed a law that prohibits communities from sounding signals associated with a past law "which required persons of a particular race, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin or color to leave the town by a certain time." Minden Town Manager J. D. Frisbee claimed the law doesn't apply to them stating, "There’s a (Minden) ordinance in place right now that says that the siren sounds every day in commemoration of our first responders. … It never went off at 6:30, when the county had an ordinance to get Native Americans out of town."

After another Nevada law targeting sundown sirens, S.B. 391, was passed in 2023, Minden finally silenced the siren.

thumb|right|The [[Minden Flour Milling Company, September 2013, one of eight sites in Minden listed on the National Register of Historic Places]]

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Minden had a population of 3,442. The median age was 54.8 years. 17.8% of residents were under the age of 18 and 33.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 87.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 84.0 males age 18 and over.

99.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.1% lived in rural areas.

There were 1,573 households in Minden, of which 21.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 51.7% were married-couple households, 14.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 29.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. of 2000, there were 2,836 people, 1,166 households, and 839 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 1,231 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.0% White, 0.1% African American, 0.7% Native American, 1.1% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.1% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.6% of the population.

There were 1,166 households, out of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.4% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.0% were non-families. 23.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.78.

In the CDP the population was spread out, with 21.9% under the age of 18, 4.4% from 18 to 24, 22.7% from 25 to 44, 27.5% from 45 to 64, and 23.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $56,795, and the median income for a family was $64,375. Males had a median income of $40,833 versus $34,700 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $30,405. About 3.7% of families and 5.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.2% of those under age 18 and 1.5% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

A Starbucks Distribution Center was constructed in 2018 to support regional supply chain management. The warehouse project brought at least 500 jobs to the area.

Education

All of Douglas County is in the Douglas County School District.

Minden has a public library, a branch of the Douglas County Public Library.

Media

Carson Valley Times
The Record-Courier

Notable people

Donald E. Bently – businessman; long term resident of Mindenol in Minden
Shaaron Claridge - voice actress credited with providing the police dispatch voice work for Adam-12, Dragnet and Columbo.
Shawn Estes – baseball player; attended high school in Minden
Nicholas Furlong – songwriter and producer
Howard D. McKibben – federal judge; practiced law in Minden from 1967 to 1971.
Jeff Nady - football coach; attended high school in Minden
David Derek Stacton – author; born in Minden
Sable Starr – groupie; died in Minden
Tanner Thorson – racing driver; born in Minden
Eric Whitacre – composer; attended high school in Minden