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Minden, Iowa

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Minden Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51553. The Survey maps it on the Neola quadrangle. 600 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,211 feet above sea level.

Minden within Pottawattamie County

Population over time

2 figures

Minden grew from 599 to 600 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010599
2020600+1 (+0%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 11 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

7 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Minden between 2014 and 2016, burning about 283 acres in total. None started naturally. 5 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Arson/incendiarism5
Debris and open burning1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 March 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural ResourcesMINDEN FIRE DEPT.
31 March 2015Arson/incendiarism70 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
31 March 2015Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
27 March 2015Arson/incendiarism40 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
26 March 2015Arson/incendiarism80 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 March 2015Arson/incendiarism90 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
13 March 2014Debris and open burningunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Pottawattamie County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Minden: 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
UnknownStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown

Every working recorded in Pottawattamie County

Storms near this place

15 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Minden in 15 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 8 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2024Flash FloodMinden$75,000The Pottawattamie Emergency Manager reported street flooding throughout the town of Minden. Sewer systems in the city were completely inundated with water flowing over roads at 340th Street between southeast Minden and the Keg Creek Bridge.
April 2025HailMinden-Emergency management report of hail estimated up to 1.25 in diameter.
May 2024Tornado (EF1)Minden-This tornado touched down two miles southeast of Minden causing EF1 damage to a transmission line. It then traveled northeast and damaged outbuildings and broke a window on the south side of a home along Tamarack Road. In addition, power poles were snapped along Tamarack Road to the northeast of this home. Tree damage continued northeast to the Avoca Rest Area where it crossed I-80. The tornado then continued north of I-80, crossing into extreme southwest Shelby County just east of the intersection of Elmwood Road and 100th Street. Peak estimated winds during this segment of the tornado track were 107 miles per hour. The maximum width was measured at 450 yards, with an average width estimated at 300 yards.
April 2023HailMinden-Emergency manager reported 2-inch hail.
September 2019HailMinden-The public reported hail up to 1.25 inches in diameter.
September 2019Thunderstorm WindMinden-A large tree fell on to power lines causing power poles to fall.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindMinden-Parts of a roof on a Menards warehouse distribution center collapsed due to damaging thunderstorm winds. Time is estimated from radar data.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindMinden-Thunderstorms wind gusts estimated at 70 to 80 mph uprooted a large tree and downed other large tree branches in town. Several power lines were also downed by the winds or by branches falling on them.
July 2002Thunderstorm WindMinden-An apparent microburst caused extensive wind in Minden. Three foot diameter trees were uprooted, power lines were downed and sporadic damage to siding was done to a few houses.
September 2019HailMinden-no account filed
May 2009HailMinden-no account filed
June 2005HailMinden-no account filed
June 2003HailMinden-no account filed
August 2001HailMinden-no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindMinden-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Pottawattamie County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Neola4.1 miles11
York Center6.3 miles11
Bentley7.4 miles11
Underwood9.0 miles11
Harlan Junction (historical)9.7 miles10
Peter9.7 miles12
Avoca10.9 miles10
Hancock10.9 miles10

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on MindenAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1928249The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 459122. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.