By Jessica Gorman
This weekend, Minden will celebrate 190 years. While there is no one day that marks the birth of the city, we use 1836 based on the earliest known survey of the town completed by Williamson Jones. The way the story of Minden’s founding is often told, many would probably think Charles Veeder showed up to a completely uninhabited wilderness and started a town. That’s not exactly how it happened.
Of course, the area was already inhabited by Native Americans. The very first permanent settler in the area that became Webster Parish, Isaac Alden, settled here around 1811, before Louisiana statehood. At least as early as 1830, the site that became Minden was the home of Adam Lackey Stewart and his family. On 8 July 1835, he sold that property, approximately 160 acres, to Charles Veeder, a native of New York who had lived in Indiana for several years before moving his family to what was then Claiborne Parish. And so, Minden got its start.
In 1836, Williamson Jones surveyed the new town of Minden, dividing it into lots. It is said that in that year, Charles Veeder built the first business, the Rock Inn or Rock Hotel. It stood between Main and Broadway facing East Union. The first floor was made of rock while the upper floor was wood frame. The inn soon came under the management of Sanders Day.
About the same time as Veeder’s arrival, settlers from South Carolina established Mt. Lebanon to the east. Veeder had purchased a prime location near the head of navigation on Bayou Dorcheat with high hopes for the development of a successful town. While he wasn’t a man of great financial means, some of his new neighbors in Mt. Lebanon were. In February 1837, about half of the property was sold to Reuben and W.A. Drake, Benjamin Frazier, and Thomas Gibbs. The previous business interests of the Drake and Gibbs in South Carolina included the production of alkaline-glazed pottery.
The Drakes, in particular, were instrumental in the development of the Minden. William Abner Drake made Minden his home and established a store that was designated the center point of town when Minden was officially incorporated in 1850. As his nephews, Hervey and William Abner, reached adulthood, they moved to Minden as well. The Drakes donated land for schools and churches. Minden quickly became a center of commerce and culture.
Charles Veeder had a history of financial problems. He had surely hoped that his move to Louisiana would change things. While the town he started grew and thrived, his personal struggles continued. He spent a little over a decade in Minden before departing for California in the late 1840s.
There is still much to learn about our local history. This is especially true for those earliest days when we have a shortage of primary sources that tell a cohesive story. As we celebrate Minden’s founding, we hope you will consider the importance of our history, the importance of preserving it, the work that remains to be done, and will choose to support the museum in that endeavor.
(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, President of the Minden Cemetery Association, and an avid genealogist.)