PIONEER VILLAGE
By MINDEN
NEBRASKA
Here is the story of a very interesting project which was once a dream of Harold Warp, and then he made that dream come true. I guess that is what dreams are for. Anyway, here is the story as we found it in Hardware Retailer of May, 1955. You will enjoy the story and will want to visit the Village at the first opportunity. The Editor
Almost in the geographical middle of the United States (Minden, Neb.), a new landmark for sightseers is in evidence. This is the home of Pioneer Village, which in the short 2 years it has been open to the public has gained national fame as a unique achievement of restoring for posterity the mode of life of our ancestors. Newsweek, in its April 15th issue, named Pioneer Village as one of the country's top new tourist lures for last year.
The Pioneer Village, perched on two city blocks, facing U. S. Highway G, at Minden, Nebraska, 132 miles west of Lincoln, houses many thousands of bygone items in 12 buildings.
This is the dream of Harold Warp, President of Flex-O-Glass, Inc., and has become a reality at Minden, Nebraska.
Sprawled over 2 city blocks are the 12 buildings that house the unique museum. In this picturesque setting is displayed the evolution of America from 1830-1950. Located on U. S. Highway 6, 132 miles west of Lincoln, Neb., Pioneer Village contains 17,000 items of bygone days. The village did not develop overnight. It received its initial spark - hen the country school Harold Warp had attended as a boy was to be sold to the highest bidder. Mr. Warp's bid gained him the school house with records intact. Soon after this, the first church in his home town had to be moved to make way for a modern stone structure, so Warp bought this, too.
Harold Warp's sister, Mrs. T. C. Jensen, who with her husband manages the Pioneer Village, holds a saddle bag of Pony Express days. In the bags were found 2 undelivered letters dated 1861. See the story of Pioneer Village.
As time went by he had to find a place to put the many items he was acquiring. Minden, Neb., was the natural choice, for it was from this town that Harold Warp started in 1924, bound for Chicago with $800.00 and the patent for a product called "Flex-O-Glass."
By 1950, the idea for Pioneer Village had evolved into the planning stage. At this point Warp enlisted the aid of his sister, Mrs. T. C. Jensen, and her auctioneer husband, in collecting the many keepsakes.
The steam threshing outfit runs every Sunday in the summertime for the kiddies as well as for the old-timers who visit the Pioneer Village. It is amusing to see the expression on the faces of both young and old when asked if they like to blow the whistle on the steam engine. See the story of Pioneer Village.