Pioneer Village, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
MINDEN — Pioneer Village, a historic tourist destination for the Minden community has been getting refreshed thanks to the dedicated work of area volunteers.
Harold Warp was born in 1903 in Minden and later moved to Chicago in 1924, where he started the company Warp Brothers Flex-o-Glass.
The plexiglass created by the company was sought after for various needs during World War II and Warp began to use his newfound income to create Pioneer Village in Minden.
One of the first purchases that Warp made was the one-room schoolhouse, District 13, he and his siblings had attended. Aside from capturing Warp’s childhood, it represents the education many a rural child would have received on the Plains.
Other buildings include a Pony Express Relay Station, original Elm Creek Stockade, the 1884 St. Paul Lutheran Church, historical general store, sod house, antique toy collection, blacksmith shop, etc.
The Elm Creek Stockade is the first log cabin in Webster County, both as a dwelling and as a community fort against Native American attacks.
It was built in 1869, the interior is authentically furnished and an original Pony Express mailbox is on the wall.
The People’s Store is a replica of a general merchandise store that served the Stamford area in the 1800s, completely stocked with by-gone items. Includes original Fort Kearney Post Office mailboxes and a glass cat on the cracker barrel.
The Bloomington Land Office was moved from its original location in Franklin County. The building served pioneers filing their homestead claims. It contains early maps, old land records and John N. Warp’s original homestead title.
The Fire House shows the development of fire-fighting equipment from hand cart to modern fire trucks are here. Also an outdoor jail made of strap iron and an early diesel powered city light plant.
From 1872 to 1882, the Lowell Depot, now located in Pioneer Village, was the western terminus of the B & M Railroad.
Two early-day locomotives and a narrow-gauge caboose are displayed in front of the depot. During restoration seven worn out floors were discovered, each on top of the other, in the depot.
The China House contains collections of china, pottery, cut glass and precious keepsakes carried west i n covered wagons, including a sugar bowl owned by Abraham Lincoln with glazed pictures of his mother and grandmother.
The Homes and Shops Buildings includes 20 rooms of the past, showing kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms of each generation since 1830.
Also included is a music shop, doctors office, print shop drug store, barbershop, many others. Yarn spinning, weaving and broom making are demonstrated during the summer.
The second-floor features low mail order prices on furniture at the turn of century. Sen. Carl Curtis’ Senate office from 1954 to 1978 has also been perfectly replicated.
For those who are drawn to agriculture practices of the past, the Antique Farm Machinery Building and Antique Tractor and Truck building features the complete evolution of plowing, cultivating, seeding, harvesting and threshing equipment and 100 early farm tractors.
For the antique and classic car lovers, the 22,400 square foot Antique Cars building features over 100 cars, Buicks, Cadillacs, Dodges, Chryslers, Oldsmobiles in the order of their development.
In total, Warp would acquire 28 buildings to display on the grounds of Pioneer Village.
‘The Green’ at Pioneer Village, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
“There are 12 historic buildings around the circular ‘green’. There’s a Frontier Fort, a real honest-to-goodness Pony Express Station, an Iron Horse, and a homemade sod house. There’s a general store and a toy store, chock full of all the goods from yesteryear. An original art collection including 25 Currier and Ives prints, 23 Jackson paintings, and the largest single collection of Rogers statues,” according to the website.
“You can see a priceless steam carousel, 17 historic flying machines and marvel at 100 antique tractors. See the world’s oldest Buick, a 1902 Cadillac and a 1903 Ford, both designed by Henry Ford, plus 350 other antique cars,” the website states.
The arrows painted on the ground, guiding the way for visitors serve a greater purpose, guiding not just the way, but showing the changing history and progression in vehicles, home décor, fashion, furniture and more recently added, computer technology.
Some of the items in the collection carry their own unique history. In one case, an ornate roll-top desk was owned by Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th President of the United States of America.
The desk was passed down to three other owners before being acquired by Warp and later placed in Pioneer Village.
The collection that Warp gathered is immense in its scope and includes 50,000 items and, at one time, would go on to draw 150,000 visitors per year.
However, the number of visitors has fluctuated over the years.
Today, maintenance and operations of the facility have been turned over to the Harold Warp Pioneer Village Foundation (HWPV). They are actively seeking donations or volunteers to continue the support for the village for future generations.
“Pioneer Village is a publicly funded non-profit, self-supporting educational foundation,” according to their website.
Individuals and teams have volunteered to cleaning, paint and work on various restoration projects throughout the facility.
The current project lists include various painting projects, weeding, replanting and cleaning up the flowerbeds and dusting and cleaning exhibit buildings.
Alan Farlin, the volunteer coordinator for Pioneer Village said, “Pioneer Village really depends upon volunteers…for a good amount of the ongoing revitalization.”
He said, “a lot of credit needs to go to the volunteers,” regarding the recent refurbishment projects.
Farlin said recently they have focused on new roofs for various buildings, fresh coats of paint and adding new exhibits.
Those who wish to volunteer their time can contact Farlin at volunteers@pioneervillage.com. He said they can join any project or groundskeeping effort or focus on one of their choosing.
“Volunteers can come during Saturday’s volunteer time from 1 to 4 p m., or they can make arrangements at any other time that the village is open,” Farlin said.
