By Jessica Gorman

Minden has two historic districts included on the National Register of Historic Places. The Downtown Historic District and the Historic Residential District. This week, we’ll take a brief look at the Downtown Historic District.

Added to the National Register in 1996, most of the buildings in this district are located along Main Street. The district consists of more than forty buildings, with only two listed individually, the Bank of Minden building and the Bank of Webster building. This sometimes leads to confusion as there is a common misconception that inclusion in a historic district indicates that the structures within the district receive their own designation. This is not the case. For a property to be included on the Historic Register, a separate application is required.

Downtown Minden is noted as a center of commerce beginning in the late 1830s. It was a stop on the stagecoach line that crossed north Louisiana. In 1917 and 1918, the streets were paved with brick. Soon thereafter, the Dixie Overland Highway found its way through downtown Minden. 

Several buildings in the district have been so heavily altered that they are not considered contributing elements. Others, the Imperial Hotel and First National Bank, now Roma’s, have benefited from restoration of their facades.

The oldest block of buildings within the district is the Drake block. The original Drake store was located on the site of the current Drake building. The original store was used as the center of town when Minden was incorporated in 1850. It was replaced by the current building in 1894. Also located in this block is the Bank of Minden building, now the home of Under Dawgs. There is conflicting information concerning the exact date of construction, but comparison of maps suggests that it was in place by July 1892 making it the oldest building still standing in downtown Minden.

Just across the alley from the Drake building, the block containing the Webb Hardware building was rebuilt after being destroyed by fire in 1902. The Webb Hardware warehouse, which was included in the district as a contributing element is no longer extant and has since been replaced by a medical office.

A number of new buildings were constructed in the early 1920s. The massive Miller Building was built in 1920. Construction of the only building on Pearl Street included in the district began in 1922. Easley’s Studios, Pearl Street Studios, and The Courtyard are now located there. West Bros. and the Imperial Hotel were constructed in 1923. The most recently built buildings are located in the block extending from Fogle to Union. In the center of this block, several buildings were built to replace the Goodwill building that was destroyed by fire in 1933.

This gives a very brief overview of the Downtown Historic District. In a future article, we’ll take a look at Minden’ s Historic Residential District.

(Jessica Gorman is the Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)