“Pioneer Village” - a heritage worth preserving

This is an experience, not just a museum - authentic “Americana” heritage. It’s such a shame that it’s missed by so many people rushing by on the I-80, just 12 miles north of Minden,  The town was once on a major US Highway running east to west on Route 34 which ran for 1122 miles from Chicago through Nebraska to the Rockies in Colorado which brought hundreds of tourists weekly to visit it.  

We were astonished by the thousands of articles displayed from about the 1830’s to the 1980’s.  The second day is free of charge, and we needed two days to see it. 

Harold Warp, the founder, wrote: “In a mere 120 years....man progressed from open hearths, grease lamps and ox carts to television, super-sonic speed and atomic power.  We have endeavored to show you the actual development of this astounding progress.....”.  

He became wealthy through making plastics when he moved to Chicago. His factory produced the first plastic garbage bags and is still in business today.  He was an amazing collector and set up this wonderful village for people to remember what it was like to live through those hard times.  He dedicated it “To the Memory of our Pioneering Parents and others like them”, such as his Norwegian parents who had been true homesteaders. Harold Warp was one of 12 children born to John and his wife, Helga. 

Twelve of the 24 buildings are situated around a large circular, grassy area where families can picnic or just sit awhile. 

One of these was the General Store, stocked with some items we recognized from years ago, old butter churns, tins with familiar labels like Calumet Baking Soda, old cash registers, antique scales and a multitude of other items like animal traps and bushel baskets for fruit or corn.  Hanging from the ceiling were numerous lanterns, buckets, an old cranberry picker and other various odds and sods.  In the center was the most important item, the pot bellied stove, the only source for heating and keeping the coffee pot warm.

 We stepped inside one of the last Pony Express relay stations - a small cabin containing Buffalo Bill’s genuine, beautifully carved leather saddle. The photo shows a hand-made replica of the “mochila,” a leather cover for the saddle with four padlocked pockets for the mail at each corner, “which was left loose so it could be lifted off quickly and thrown on the saddle of a fresh horse that stood ‘rarin to go’”.

Our tour included an old white church, a livery stable, a sod house of the type that Harold and his family lived in when he was young and the one-room school house that he had attended as a boy with the original desks and books and ubiquitous wood stove in the center. We climbed on the actual steam locomotive that passed by his father’s farm as he worked on the land, never dreaming, he wrote, that one day he would own it!

But that wasn’t all! There were hundreds of antique vehicles, one being an original A Model Ford given to him by his friend, Henry Ford.  There was an amphibious car and a perfect copy of the Wright Brothers first plane and wagons, such as the Conestoga, Yellowstone (photo) and Wells Fargo Stage Coach, tractors and other farm equipment including a cotton picker, all in excellent condition and well maintained.  Most of the Yellowstone wagons had been sold, rotted or burned - the one restored and shown here was found in 1967 after a 15 year search. When the wagons were running from 1880 to 1916 according to the placard, they needed four horses to pull one and the tour of Yellowstone Park took 5 days and cost $40 including meals and lodging

The Village including the campground, Motel and restaurant entirely self supporting, a non-profit educational venture and it’s income is derived mainly from visitors. There’s little money to maintain such a vast project and keep the “oldest steam powered carousel in existence” still turning, or to see the blacksmith, glass blower or spinner at work. The one craftsman we did see was the brilliant broom-maker called Pat Haight, (photo) from whom we bought two small whisk brooms for gifts.  

The only thing that really let it down was the cafe on the green, which was really run down and had the worst food we’ve tasted in some time unless you like bratwurst that’s been cooked until the skin tastes like wood and the inside like sawdust.  The restaurant, was good although we only ate there once.

This photo shows just one of the long, empty north/south roads roads in Nebraska - they’re a joy to drive on and they’re not all flat, some are gently rolling like this on Route 10 which we drove on from the Kansas border to Minden.