MINDEN

city, seat of Kearney county, southern Nebraska, U.S., on a branch of the Little Blue River, 16 miles (26 km) south-southeast of Kearney city. Founded in 1876 and named for Minden, Ger., it became a service point for a diversified farming area (grain, livestock, dairying, poultry). Minden is mainly known for the Harold Warp Pioneer Village, which is one of the state's top tourist attractions with more than 30,000 historic items. Buildings representing American pioneer life are chronologically arranged and include a sod house, pioneer school, an original Pony Express station, a government land office, and a full-scale Indian stockade. It also has locomotives, farm implements, and one of the nation's largest collections of antique cars, airplanes, and wagons. Pop. (1992 est.) 2,666. city, North RhineWestphalia Land (state), northwestern Germany. It lies along the Weser River, near a narrow defile known as the Porta Westfalica where the river quits the mountains and enters the North German Plain. The emperor Charlemagne organized a military bishopric there in 800. The town struggled for independence from the bishopric, joined the Hanseatic League in the 13th century, and thrived as a trading centre. The bishopric was secularized in 1648, when it passed with the town to Brandenburg. Minden was fortified by Frederick II the Great of Prussia in the mid-18th century. Although it was held briefly by the French in the Seven Years' War, it reverted to Prussia after the victory of the British and Hanoverians at the Battle of Minden in 1759. It passed to Westphalia in 1807 but became Prussian again in 1814. Historic buildings in the centre of the city, including the 11th13th-century Gothic single-naved cathedral and the early Gothic town hall, were severely damaged in World War II. Both have been rebuilt. The medieval churches of St. Martin and St. Mary and a number of Weser Renaissance houses survived. An important road and rail traffic centre, Minden is the junction of waterways where the remarkable Mittelland Canal aqueduct bridges the Weser. Textiles, furniture, chemicals, glass, ceramics, and heavy metals are important in the city's economy. Other significant economic activities are based on farming and cattle breeding in the surrounding area. Pop. (1992 est.) 78,909.