Minden, Nevada

Minden has had a post office since 1906 but is still an unincorporated town that is also the county seat of Douglas County, Nevada. H.F. Dangberg Jr., founder and planner of Minden, named the town after a town of the same name in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, that town being close to the birthplace of his father, H.F. Dangberg Sr. East of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the southern end of the Carson Valley, Minden is known world-wide as one of the top gliding spots on Earth. Sailplanes have lifted off here and flown for up to 1,000 miles.

Minden was founded in 1905 at the terminus of the Virginia & Truckee Railway. It's one of those towns that was surveyed and platted before a single resident arrived. Minden started to grow as soon as the plat was recorded and generally followed that original design until the 1940's. Many of the original brick buildings in Minden were designed by Frederick Delongchamps, a noted architect who did a lot of design work in Nevada. In those days, the Minden Inn was a favored hangout for folks like Jean Harlow and Clark Gable. In the late 1950's, a small commercial boom happened along US 395 in Minden. That led to the opening of several small subdivisions around the original town plat and things began to change. In the mid-1970's, major subdivisions began to bring in more people and more businesses and Minden has continued to grow ever since. However, the population is still low and Minden is still a small town not far from South Lake Tahoe's nightlife, ski areas, beaches, gaming, and other outdoor recreation.