Interstate 80 Travel Guide
...An Exit by Exit Information Guide for the Traveler.
Nebraska’s #1 Tourist Attraction: “See How America Grew.”
Pioneer Village is one man’s dream come true. The kernel of thought to develop such a village began when
Harold Warp, age 20, left home with only a patent for a new type of plastic and
a lot of determination in 1924. “Nebraska’s
Top Attraction,” reads a 100-foot roadside sign that springs up from the green
grazing plain along Interstate 80 in central Nebraska.
Over the main building entrance to Pioneer Village are
these words: “For thousands of
years man lived quite simply. Then,
like a sleeping giant, our world awakened.
In a mere 120 years of eternal time, man progressed from open hearths,
grease lamps, and ox carts to television, supersonic speed and atomic power.”
If you are a history buff, turn off U.S. Hwy 80 at the
Minden Exit #279 near Kearney, and drive 12 miles straight south on Harold Warp
Memorial Drive to the intersection of U.S. Hwy 6 and Nebraska Hwy 10.
Here, within 20 acres, are over 50,000 pieces of Americana in 26
buildings, many of them plucked from out of the past and moved here from their
country sites. There are also
modern display halls, built specially for these selected treasures.
All of the original building authentically furnished are
located around a village green so the visitor can see them with a minimum of
walking. Of special interest is a
replica of a little old sod shanty on the plains, like those that housed
immigrants who came west to take up a claim.
Eleven acres of prairie sod were used to make the three-foot-thick walls.
The roof was made of cottonwood timbers found along the rivers.
Clay was used for the floor and to fill in the cracks. This reproduction is furnished in century-old Americana.
Most extensive is the transportation exhibit which begins
with an 1822 ox cart found in Deansboro, New York. Following, in order of their use, are an authentic Conestoga
wagon or “prairie schooner,” stagecoach, steam train, omnibus, horse-drawn
street car, San Francisco cable car and an electric trolley car. In
the old livery stable are all the variations of buggies, carriages, coaches and
carts. The ice wagon, sleigh, street sprinkler, peddler’s wagon
and gypsy wagon are new sights to today’s children.
There are 350 automobiles on display at the Village,
acknowledged as the best and most historic car collection in the country.
See the first Cadillac, designed by Henry Ford in 1902, and the oldest
Buick in existence. Each make of car is in its respective order of development.
Flying machines begin with a Kitty Hawk replica of the Wright Brothers’
invention in 1903, and they include 20 first issues of flying machines through
the first Bell P-59 jet of 1942. There
are 50 aviation engines ranging from 1905 Glen Curtiss to a 1944 Jet Wasp.
For the children, there’s an old-time merry-go-round,
built in 1879, and found in Pontiac, Illinois.
It has been restored to perfect condition. On Sunday, it still costs only 5 cents for both adults and
children to ride. Children
especially enjoy the live exhibits: yarn
being spun, cloth woven and brooms made. In
the toy shop, they can see the teddy bear of 1902, a much-loved toy named for
President Theodore Roosevelt.