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.
Population over time
2 figuresMinden 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 599 | |
| 2020 | 600 | +1 (+0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 11 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1954 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Neola quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Omaha quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1994 USGS Neola quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
7 since 2014Regional 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/incendiarism | 5 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 March 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | MINDEN FIRE DEPT. |
| 31 March 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 70 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 31 March 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 27 March 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 40 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 March 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 80 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 17 March 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 90 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 13 March 2014 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Unknown |
Storms near this place
15 since 1998Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2024 | Flash Flood | Minden | $75,000 | The 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 2025 | Hail | Minden | - | Emergency management report of hail estimated up to 1.25 in diameter. |
| May 2024 | Tornado (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 2023 | Hail | Minden | - | Emergency manager reported 2-inch hail. |
| September 2019 | Hail | Minden | - | The public reported hail up to 1.25 inches in diameter. |
| September 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minden | - | A large tree fell on to power lines causing power poles to fall. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minden | - | Parts of a roof on a Menards warehouse distribution center collapsed due to damaging thunderstorm winds. Time is estimated from radar data. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minden | - | 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 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minden | - | 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 2019 | Hail | Minden | - | no account filed |
| May 2009 | Hail | Minden | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Minden | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Minden | - | no account filed |
| August 2001 | Hail | Minden | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minden | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neola | 4.1 miles | 11 | |
| York Center | 6.3 miles | 11 | |
| Bentley | 7.4 miles | 11 | |
| Underwood | 9.0 miles | 11 | |
| Harlan Junction (historical) | 9.7 miles | 10 | |
| Peter | 9.7 miles | 12 | |
| Avoca | 10.9 miles | 10 | |
| Hancock | 10.9 miles | 10 |
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 Minden | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1928249 | The 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.





