Lost Minden

Minden has always been a city of celebrations; this image shows an Easter celebration from around 1900. The hatless gentleman holding the child is Alfred Goodwill, a prominent local businessman whose great-grandson Mike Foster served two terms as Louisiana governor. This portion of downtown would be dedicated a few years later as Civic or Town Park. (Courtesy of Dorcheat Historical Association Museum.)

This image, taken on May 1, 1907, shows a May Day celebration in Civic Park complete with a maypole. The park had been created in 1905 through the initiative of the local women’s clubs, and the bandstand had been completed for only a few months when this event took place. Over the next 50 years, the bandstand would host speeches from the likes of Huey Long and weekly town band concerts on Friday nights during the summers. Visible in the right background of the picture is the antebellum home constructed for William Hardy in 1855 but best known in Minden as the longtime home of Joe Miller and, later, his daughter Roy Miller Inbanbett. The home is one of a handful of antebellum structures still standing in Minden today and sits behind the 1953 Webster Parish Courthouse. (Courtesy of Richard Carey.)

This group of boys from the 1940s found the bandstand in the park to be the perfect place to hang out on a summer’s day in Minden. This is the reconstructed bandstand, after it had been completely destroyed by the killer tornado of May 1, 1933, that devastated Minden. (Author’s collection.)

Minden girls are seen on a parade float for Fourth of July celebrations in 1912. Minden began celebrating the Fourth of July again in the mid-1880s, unlike some towns in the old Confederacy that refused to acknowledge Independence Day for decades after the Civil War. (Courtesy of Dorcheat Historical Association Museum.)

In all parts of the nation, political rallies provided entertainment as much as they provided enlightenment to the public. This is an image of an unidentified political rally held in Minden during the 1930s. In those days before mass media, rallies were the only way for many politicians to connect with the voting public. Note the band ready to perform for the audience; it indicates, perhaps, this was a campaign stop by the organization of Huey Long, as Long’s presentations always featured music and other entertainment. As mentioned earlier, Long made many memorable appearances in Minden, although the more politically connected people in Minden were anti-Long. That animosity between Long and Minden led to an infamous showdown meeting in November 1933 when, according to Long biographer T. Harry Williams, a plot was underfoot to kill Long that was foiled by his bodyguards. (Courtesy of Joan Wiley Luck)

For many years, Mardi Gras was a huge celebration in Minden. Beginning in the 1880s, the festivities grew over time. This image shows an unidentified king and queen of Mardi Gras being driven through town in 1915. Large events were held all day long on Fat Tuesday, and even the town schoolchildren were involved in the celebration. Minden’s fascination with carnival faded after a tragic fire at a Mardi Gras pageant in 1923 killed several young girls. Local celebrations began again in the last 30 years, and a local krewe emerged to sponsor parades and other events. The holiday has once again become important in Minden. In the present era, in recognition of the name of the town and its German heritage, the carnival celebrations have been given a German spin, recognizing Minden’s roots by celebrating Fasching. (Courtesy of Thad Andress.)

The men of the First Methodist Church of Minden are shown outside the building in about 1908. First Methodist is the oldest church in Minden, having been founded in 1839 by circuit riders in North Louisiana. The building in this picture was constructed in approximately 1905 and was used for nearly three-quarters of a century. (Courtesy of Frank Griffith.)

The Minden Baptist Church was organized in December 1844, and this structure, shown after being converted to a home, was the first building erected for the congregation to meet in 1852. The church moved to its second home in 1902, and this structure was destroyed by the tornado of 1933. (Author’s collection.)

St. John’s Episcopal Church was organized in Minden in the 1850s through the leadership of the Chaffee and Goodwill families. This church building was constructed in 1870 and was used until after World War II, when a newer brick church was built on the edge of downtown Minden. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

The Minden Presbyterian Church came into being in 1854. This church building was constructed in 1889 and was used until 1924, when the current church building was erected on the same site. (Author’s collection.)

The first Catholic settlers came to Minden from Eastern Europe in the 1850s, and from 1857 to 1867, a visiting priest came to Minden for services. In 1867, a priest was assigned to Minden, and this building was erected as the home for St. Anne’s Catholic Church. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

Originally built in the 1850s, this was the home of Drury Murrell, who came to Minden from South Carolina and became a prominent businessman. The residence burned in 1879, and this images shows the reconstructed version. In later years, this structure served as the Green-Kleinnegger Funeral Home. (Courtesy Frank Griffith.)

John D. Watkins came to Minden in 1848 to teach at the Minden Academy and rose to become the president of the Minden Male Academy, which replaced the old Minden Academy. He later became an attorney, prosecuting attorney, and district judge, as did his son John Thomas Watkins, who built this home on College Street in Minden. John T. was also a noted religious leader, serving as president of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. He capped his political career by serving eight terms in the US House of Representatives between 1905 and 1921. Fellow Minden resident John N. Sandlin defeated him in a bitter campaign in the fall of 1920. In the aftermath of that race, Watkins lived out his life in Washington, DC, not returning to live in this home. He died in 1925 and is buried in the Minden Cemetery. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

John T. Watkins’s daughter Mell and her husband, attorney Clifford Hays, lived in the home after the death of the congressman. On the morning of January 8, 1942, a fire sparked by the explosion of a hot water heater broke out at the home, as seen in this image. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

The Minden Fire Department was unable to put out the fire in time to save the home, and when the blaze was finally extinguished, this was all that was left of the house. Today, the Minden Church of Christ occupies that spot on College Street. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

After the fire, the Hayses moved to this property on Sullivan Street, owned by the congressman’s estate, one block north of the destroyed home. After the death of Clifford Hays, Mell Hays would remain in this house for years, finally moving to a much smaller house next door in the last years of her life in the 1970s. This Sullivan Street residence had once been the main building of the Minden Male Academy before that institution closed around 1900. At the time of the closing, John Watkins purchased the campus building for a total of $50, contingent on him removing the buildings from the campus so it could be converted to what is today Academy Park. It was an amazingly low price for a house that would remain in use for nearly 60 years after the purchase. It was truly a wise investment choice. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

This postcard shows a residential section of Broadway in Minden during the first decade of the 20th century in a view looking west toward downtown. The house to the left is the Jack Crichton home, which became to be known as the Sandlin home to most Minden folks. Crichton died, and his widow, Emma Palmer Crichton, married Judge John N. Sandlin in 1913. The Sandlins lived in this house together until Emma died in the mid-1950s. Judge (later Congressman) Sandlin lived on at this residence until his death on Christmas Eve 1957. The home just to the right, or west, is the English home, which was torn down in 1925. The First Baptist Church of Minden bought the English home, and it would erect its third church building on that site in 1925. (Author’s collection.)

Here is a later image of the Sandlin home shortly before it was torn down in the 1970s. The home had been acquired by the First Baptist Church of Minden and was used for church activities until it was removed for parking spaces. Sandlin served in the US House of Representatives from 1921 to 1937. (Author’s collection.)

The Grigsby home stood for many years on the corner of Monroe and West Union Streets in Minden. It was torn down to provide a new location for the local telephone company and was yet another of the grand residences of the 1800s that did not survive the 20th century. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

Originally built by Edward E. Bright of the Minden Female College, this residence was home to John Sidney Killen and his family from 1886 through his death in 1903. Killen was a civic, government, and religious leader in the community and a major landholder who immigrated to Louisiana on a wagon train in the 1840s. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

This is a family portrait of the W.A. Turner family taken in the 1890s; Turner married a daughter of John Sidney Killen, whose home is pictured on page 58. Family members are, from left to right, (first row) Elva Turner, Penn Turner, June Turner, and Blackshire Turner; (second row) Lola Turner, W.A. Turner, Phares Turner (on knee), Emma Killen Turner, and John Turner; (third row) Sidney Turner, Bobby Turner, and Effie Turner. The Turner family served the local community in many ways, as the family’s timber-related businesses touched many in Minden. The family also provided the land where today’s E.S. Richardson Elementary School is located. They were also leaders in religion and teachers and administrators in the schools. The Turner descendants are still active today in Minden, particularly in the field of education. (Courtesy of George Turner.)

This book is titled Lost Minden, and much has been lost. However, without the work of two individuals, so much more of the town’s legacy would have been gone. The first is Dr. Luther Longino, who was born in the 1850s and on the local scene for nearly 100 years. His earliest published writing was an account of a stagecoach journey across North Louisiana during the 1870s. Beyond his work as a physician, he served as parish health officer and a cotton investor. After the town of Minden banned wooden structures in downtown in 1902, he erected several brick commercial buildings that are still in use today. He wrote newspaper columns and books and left a lasting record of both the life he lived and the stories he was told. At 92, shortly before his death, he launched a campaign to bring a museum to Minden. (Author’s collection.)

The second preservationist is Thomas Lorraine Campbell. A native of Missouri, she came to Minden around 1940 with her husband, Dr. Paul Campbell, and adopted Minden as her home, while the community adopted her as its record keeper. She chronicled so many stories of Minden, and through her many newspaper articles and journal publications, she saved the town’s heritage. She was able to talk with and record the memories of students at the Minden Female College; of those who worked with the great industries that came to Minden, the Minden Lumber Mill, the L&A Railway, and the Louisiana Ordnance Plant; and of others who lived the history almost from the beginning. The recollections of those early settlers and pioneer families are a precious, priceless source of heritage for Minden. The Webster Parish Police Jury named her the first official parish historian. (Author’s collection.)

Recreation of all sorts was also a tradition in Minden. Here is a group of children gathered on one of Christopher Chaffe’s stagecoaches. Clearly, the stagecoach had seen its better days and was no longer in use, except as a prop for pictures. This image dates from the 1880s. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

In the 1890s, a dance club called the German Club became the rage at colleges across the South. Minden’s young men formed a local club. They loved to dress the part. The young man in the military coat with the impressive mustache is Connell Fort, who later served several terms as Minden’s mayor. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

A group of young Minden folks is posing in a Dallas photograph studio as the Minden Tennis Club. While tennis was played in Minden at that time and these teens may have well played, the equipment simply consists of props provided by the photographer. (Courtesy of Thad Andress.)

A summer tradition in Minden became the “Fats and Leans” baseball game. The men of the community would self-identify with one of the two teams, and they would meet at a town picnic with the proceeds used for civic improvements. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

Baseball became a town passion, and town teams were formed at all age levels to compete with teams from nearby towns such as Homer. This is the Minden team from about 1904 shown in uniform and in “travelling clothes.” (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

This image is the 1908 Minden town baseball team. Members are, from left to right, Harmon Drew, manager and second base; Alden Rathbun, shortstop; Tabor, first base; Caldwell Drew, outfield; Jack Hardeman, catcher; Norman McCrary, pitcher; Valmey Crichton, outfield; Watson Griffin, outfield; and Douglas Maddry, third base. (Author’s collection.)

Semiprofessional baseball garnered a huge following in the Minden area in the years after World War II. The local team, the Minden Redbirds, was a traditional power in what was called the Big Eight League. Here is team manager T.C. Bloxom Sr. showing the championship trophy to players. (Courtesy of Ben Hunter.)

Beyond baseball, the sport of swimming moved from the banks of ponds and bayous into modern swimming facilities. Minden had a town natatorium as early as 1920, but this is an image of the pool at Hunter’s playground, which was opened to children in Minden by the Hunter family. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

Minden traditionally had a town band for many years, but in the 1920s, the newly formed Minden Lions Club established the “Lions Boys Band.” This group lasted for nearly two decades and provided a musical foundation for local youth. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

These ladies are the members of the Junior Service League of Minden during the mid-1930s. The club has a long history of contributions to the local community and, more than 80 years after it was first organized, is still benefitting Minden. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)

At about 4:00 p.m. on Monday, May 1, 1933, Minden was struck by a tornado estimated to be one of the most powerful in Louisiana history. At least 27 lives were lost, and the next few pictures will show some of the damage from the storm. (Courtesy of Craig Farley.)

This was the view from the Sibley Road looking north toward Depot Hill after the 1933 tornado. The scope of damage is clear, as every structure has suffered severe trauma from the storm. (Courtesy of Craig Farley.)

This is a panoramic image of Depot Hill in Minden in the aftermath of the tornado of May 1, 1933. Homes on this slope sustained severe damage along with the almost complete destruction of the headquarters of the L&A Railway. Some of the first fatalities from the storm were young girls attending a birthday party at a home on the hill. (Author’s collection.)

This is the wreckage of the bandstand/gazebo in Town Park in Minden after the tornado of May 1, 1933. The bandstand was a vital part of the community for many years and was rebuilt after the tornado. It was finally destroyed when the Town Park was traded to Webster Parish as the site for a new Webster Parish Courthouse. (Author’s collection.)

The Minden Cemetery was hit particularly hard by the May 1, 1933, tornado. This picture shows some of the wrecked family plots and destroyed trees in the cemetery. Many old, tall headstones were toppled, and even today, many graves remain unmarked after their markers were carried away in the storm. (Courtesy of Henry Hobbs.)

This view is looking west on Broadway (Back Street) after the 1933 tornado, with the wrecked St. Anne’s Catholic Church visible on the left. Just to the right of this image was the Civic Park with its bandstand demolished and many trees toppled. (Author’s collection.)

Among the amazing stories emerging from the storm was the statuary located inside St. Anne’s Church. Despite the severe damage shown in these images, there were several delicate porcelain statues in the church that were left untouched by the storm. (Author’s collection.)

In the aftermath of the storm damage, a committee was appointed by the diocese to determine if the old St. Anne’s building was usable. It reached the conclusion that the church was too damaged to use, and a new building was constructed on this site. In addition, the name of the church was changed from St. Anne’s to St. Paul’s. (Author’s collection.)

A state policeman is shown directing traffic at the intersection of Pine and Main Streets in Minden in the days after the 1933 tornado. The search for survivors took several days, and the local public safety officials were so overwhelmed that outside help, such as the National Guard and state police, was needed to keep order. Hit particularly hard by the storm were the black areas of Minden; because many of those homes were not well built, the area was largely flattened. The sheer amount of damage in those areas has led to speculation that the death count was actually much higher than the official estimate of 27. When bodies were found days after the storm, it often did not make sense to families to take them to the makeshift morgue to be counted. They simply buried their own dead. (Courtesy of Craig Farley.)

Taken in downtown Minden on May 2, 1933, the day after the storm, this photograph shows people surveying the damage to Town Park, in a view looking east toward the Standard Oil gasoline station on the corner of Main and Pine Streets. This was about the eastern edge of the damage in downtown Minden. Though the destruction to the community by the tornado was severe, a shift of the storm two blocks to the east would have caused it to hit the downtown business district on a workday afternoon. Without a doubt, the amount of property damage would have been greater, and more lives would likely have been lost. The winds did damage to the already compromised dome of the Webster Parish Courthouse, which had been scheduled for repairs that summer, forcing a replacement of that damaged structure instead of a simple renovation. (Author’s collection.)

Troops from the Louisiana Guard are shown marching in Minden in the aftermath of the tornado of May 1, 1933. Because of the damage and the influx of sightseers coming to the town, the troops remained in town serving police functions for several days after the storm. Local Boy Scout troops and private citizens combed the wreckage for bodies, and the schools were closed for the remainder of the school year. Property damage totaled more than $1 million, and though only 27 bodies were brought to the official morgue, the estimated death total has been suggested to approach 80. Coming after a major fire and a bank failure earlier in the year and followed by a rain that destroyed the year’s cotton crop, the tornado of 1933 is remembered as the worst event of the most tragic year in Minden’s history. (Courtesy of Craig Farley.)

Maggie (Mrs. John) McCowen, with her two sons, John Jr. (right) and Billy, is shown standing in the wreckage of her home destroyed by the May 1, 1933, tornado. John McCowen Jr. would grow up to be a local merchant and serve many years on the Minden City Council during the 1950s and 1960s, while Billy McCowen would also grow up to be a local businessman. The McCowen family lived in a residential area close to the L&A Railway shops along the Sibley Road going south out of downtown Minden. While the damage to the McCowen home was more severe than most, many tales of strange, less tragic, happenings during the storm emerged from this neighborhood. These included accounts of cows being carried through the air and homes being turned to face in a different direction on their foundations. (Courtesy of Meg McCowen.)

This is the wreckage of the Wilkins home on Front Street in the aftermath of the May 1 tornado. Killed at this home was Stella Phillips Wilkins, a local schoolteacher and daughter of former Webster Parish sheriff A.H. “Hutch” Phillips. Stella died from injuries she received while protecting her son during the storm. Eighty years later, that son, Dr. William Wilkins of Shreveport, Louisiana, presented a program for a meeting of the Dorcheat Historical Association in Minden remembering the tragedy of that day in May and how it changed his life and his family forever. The Wilkins family’s story of the impact of that day could be appreciated by many in Minden who also lost loved ones to a storm that has never been forgotten by local residents. (Courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library.)