Minden
Douglas County, Douglas County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Minden. Minden, the seat of Douglas County since 1916, was named for a town in Westphalia, Germany, where the founder of H.F. Dangberg Land and Livestock Company, was born in 1829. The company established Minden in 1905 to provide terminal facilities for the Virginia and Truckee Railway, which was then extending a branch line southward from Carson City. The passenger and freight depot was situated at this point.Principal promoter of the town, and its related development, was H.F. Dangberg Jr., secretary of the company and son of the founder.
Erected by Carson City Historical Society
The Story
Minden was laid out in 1905 by the H.F. Dangberg Land and Livestock Company to serve as the terminus for the Virginia and Truckee Railway's new branch line extending south from Carson City. The town took its name from Minden in Westphalia, Germany, birthplace of the company's founder. With its passenger and freight depot at this spot, the planned town prospered and became the seat of Douglas County in 1916.
Why it matters
Minden is a classic railroad-planned town, showing how rail companies and land firms deliberately conjured communities into being to anchor agricultural commerce in the early twentieth-century West.
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Related people
- · H.F. Dangberg
- · H.F. Dangberg Jr.
Themes & tags
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