When Harold Warp was born in a sod house in Minden, Nebraska in 1903, no one knew what the future would hold for him. Harold was the youngest of 12 kids. Little did his parents  know that he would grow to be a successful entrepreneur and would collect thousands of treasures for the world to enjoy with his creation of Pioneer Village .By age 11, Warp had lost both of his parents and was sent to live in various households until high school when he moved in with an older brother in Chicago. Despite a challenging childhood, Warp was a curious, inventive, and intelligent student. One of his earliest successes involved creating a cookbook for his home economics teacher in high school that he sold by mail order.

His success story started when he noticed that the Summer yielded more growth and eggs from chickens than Winter due to chicken coop’s windows that did not allow the sun’s warmth into the building. This led him to three years of experimentation and ended with Warp creating Flex-O-Glass! This was a revolutionary, flexible material that could be added to chicken coops to give the chickens the illusion of Summer by allowing the sun’s warmth to enter the room. While in Chicago, Warp used his savings to create a factory for Flex-O-Glass and found great success with the material after the government approved of it. Warp’s plastic businesses grew to include several other products and the Warp Bros. company was founded and is still in business today.

Harold Warp took his success in the plastics businesses and brought it home to Minden, Nebraska. It was there that he purchased the town’s one room schoolhouse, church, and train depot, along with several others and the dream of Pioneer Village was born. Harold moved several buildings to form a new “town square” and opened his attraction in 1953. A notable building is a replica of the sod house in which he was born just feet away from the oldest merry-go-round in America. Along with historic Minden buildings, Harold Warp packed his land with over 50,000 historically significant items. Pioneer Village grew to hold everything from cars to antique fire extinguishers and art. Harold Warp’s dream came true and many visitors from around the nation came to Nebraska to see the historical masterpieces he had preserved. Warp was a lifelong learner who dedicated his time and money into helping Americans continue their education into the past.

Harold Warp was a respected business owner and citizen in Nebraska and beyond. Before his death in 1994, he was the recipient of numerous awards including the 1979 Horatio Alger Award and the 1984 Distinguished Nebraskalander Award. He was selected for these awards based on his commitment to leadership, community service, excellence, and the belief that everyone can achieve a better future. In 1983, Harold Warp donated his museum to the nonprofit Harold Warp Pioneer Village Foundation. Although Harold is no longer with us, his legacy will not be forgotten. His contributions to historical preservations at Pioneer Village and beyond as well as his innovations in the plastics industry will continue to benefit and educate the world forever.

The “home made of grass” here at Harold Warp’s Pioneer Village happens to be Minden Nebraska’s very own Warp family sod house, where Harold Warp, founder, and collector for the historical museum, was born and raised.

The house was constructed using many long ribbons of the easily available, thick grass known as sod (specifically bluestem sod), which were placed overlaying each other and held together by clay from a nearby river. Due to the material, sod houses couldn’t be two floors.  They are also much more vulnerable to rain damage than houses made of stone or wood and often had to be repaired, so a small-sized house was preferred because it meant spending less time on repairs. Warp’s sod house has only two rooms: one for sleeping, and one for cooking and eating.

While the Warp’s true sod house attracted some rattlesnakes, many Nebraskans would create a half sod house, half dugout which rattlesnakes liked even more. Harold notes in his book that when rattlesnakes dared enter their sod house, they would keep their rattles as a record of how many they had seen. They often put the cloth over the window openings to protect them from the outdoor elements. The best thing about sod houses was that they were very insulated.       So, they remained warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They used buffalo horns on the wall as hooks for clothes.

The best part about this sod house is that in this museum building, you can read Warp’s very own handwritten experience in the house and descriptions of items that they used every day. For example, he recalled his mother sitting at the table, which still sits in the house at the museum, knitting mittens by the light of a kerosene lamp and eating their meals together there with his 8 siblings and his parents. On a sadder note, he recalls his father’s passing, in which he tells his wife to look in the “Skatol”, a piece of furniture his father had built and named after immigrating, in which there was $600 to build a bigger, more effective shed for the cows. He explained in detail exactly how he wanted it to look. Harold Warp then recalls that his father passed peacefully following this declaration as if it had been part of the plan all along. Like any home, Harold Warp experienced loving, fulfilling childhood memories, as well as moments of heartbreak and loss. His just took place in a time where homes were made of clay and grass rather than wood and glass. It was where he discovered the invention that put him and his family on the map, Flex-O-Glass.

These little details and stories throughout history are why he chose to create Pioneer Village; he just couldn’t bear to see his past get torn to shreds in the name of innovation. So there at that amazing museum is where his childhood home sits, waiting to tell all its stories about the things that it has seen to those who dare to venture into moments throughout history.

References:

Harold Warp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Warp
Dugout: https://history.nebraska.gov/publications/dugout-construction

Grandparents are great. They shower you with unconditional love, buy you the best presents, and tell you the best stories. Stories about how things were different when they were children and how much everything has changed throughout the years. Stories that are passed down that can be shared with the new generation. 

Now imagine being able to take a step back in time, a time where either your grandparents or even great-great-great-grandparents were once kids. Imagine being able to see and sit down in a classroom that was once operated as a schoolhouse more than 100 years ago. Sounds pretty cool huh? Well, you’re in luck!

Here at Harold Warp Pioneer Village, located in Minden, Nebraska only about 20 miles away from the City of Kearney, one can experience the atmosphere of this vintage schoolhouse that had once been used during the late 19th century and the early 20th century.

History of the Country Schoolhouse Exhibit

Back in the late 19th century, it was common to see one-roomed school houses across the U.S as it was seen as a symbol of progress for pioneer settlements. Since at first, settlements started out small, the children were taught by one of the township’s family’s wives until more people came to settle in the area. Once more people arrived, they saw having a schoolhouse would be needed and necessary. 

In 1877, School District 13  had thirteen children being taught in the John Barnes home for a cost of $68. A couple of years later, “A Sod school was built in 1879 at a cost of $21.98 and in 1881 a floor was added that cost $16.42”. This information is stated in the book “A History of Man’s Progress from 1830 to the present”, written and compiled by museum founder, Harold Warp.

That number of thirteen pupils expanded up to 85 students in 1900. The number steadily declined over time and by the time it was 1920 the class size had shrunk down to 32. As the years passed and the year 1937 approached, it was decided by the local community by a vote to send the children to Minden for school since there weren’t that many kids left in the district.

Since the kids left to go to school in Minden, the school building was left abandoned there for the next eleven years. 

How the Grom School ended up at Pioneer Village

During this period, it was not uncommon to see old equipment and buildings being put up for auction because of the development of new and better equipment. This is exactly what happened to the schoolhouse  in 1948 by a vote of the district.

The building ended going to the biggest bidder which winded up being Harold Warp, who attended the school and couldn’t bare to see it destroyed. Warp bought the Grom Schoolhouse in 1948 which included all the records that the school had. In 1952 he moved the schoolhouse to Pioneer Village. A unique fact about the schoolhouse is that it has been left the same since the last day of class that the students finished for the term in 1938. All the books they have used were put back onto their racks where they remain today. Now one can take a step back into the past and get to have a glimpse of how life once was. 

References:

A History of Man’s Progess from 1830 to the present. Written and compiled by Harold Warp. Page(s) 369- 370. 

The Heart of Pioneer Village – Sister Clara

Have you heard of the saying “Heart and Soul”? Collins Dictionary defines it as putting “a great deal of enthusiasm and energy into something”. This saying perfectly represents the Warp sibling duo. Everyone knows that the soul of Pioneer Village is Harold Warp. The place is even named after him. But few know who the heart is behind the soul: his sister Clara. She was an integral part of getting the museum to be the celebration of history that it is today. So here’s her story:

Backstory

Harold and Clara’s parents were both born in Norway and eventually immigrated to the United States in 1869 (father) and 1878 (mother). They settled into farm life and started raising a family just outside of Minden in Cosmo, Nebraska. Clara G. Warp was born on April 27^th, 1894, to parents John and Hilda Warp. Clara was the 10^th born. Unfortunately, three of her older siblings had passed at a young age. Her parents went on to have two more children after Clara – the youngest being Harold.

Clara went to the Grom District School – the same school that ended up in the collection at Pioneer Village. She then graduated from Minden High School in 1912 and got into teaching. On June 1^st, 1916, Clara G. Warp and Thorvald C. Jensen, were married. He was affectionately known as T.C. Jensen or Col. T.C. Jensen. The new family settled in Holdrege, Nebraska where she was a stay-at-home mother to Vearl, Elaine, Stanley, Omar, Donald, and Ronald. Her husband Thorvald was a public sales auctioneer. Eventually, the family moved to Alma, Nebraska. 

Clara was very involved with her church and the community organizations. She belonged to the Woman’s Society of Christian Service, and the Order of Eastern Star. She was also a member of the Minden Woman’s Club and the local China Painting Club.

Integral Role

Clara got into bookkeeping for the livestock sales barns which then evolved into collecting items for her brother Harold. Clara’s husband, Thorvald, played a key role in their adventures as well. His career in auctioneering gave him a special knowledge and advantage of where and how to find items, as well as their pricing. It was only natural, once the idea of Pioneer Village was born, that they would be involved. That, and their natural charisma allowed them to make many friends along the way who would share information with them or forward their information on to others. 

Clara flexed her bookkeeping muscles by keeping a diligent record of all the items bought and their associated costs which she later forwarded onto her brother Harold for reimbursement. Considering the times, and the expense of long-distance phone calls, Clara and her husband kept communication open with Harold by writing daily letters. 

All those letters can be found in her book “Sister Clara’s Letters While Putting Together the Harold Warp Pioneer Village”. Rarely, if ever, do you get the full backstory or personal touch behind how an item was acquired at museums. Usually, it just says “donated by” or nothing at all. Her book is a unique perspective on the process and shows, in a quite personal and honest way, how much work went into it. 

Later in life, she, and her husband T.C., became co-managers of Pioneer Village. She worked for Pioneer Village for over 12 years, and probably would have many more. Sadly, Clara passed away December 23^rd, 1962 of a heart attack. Preceded in death by her son Ronald.

References:

•  Minden: https://www.mindennebraska.org/
• Holdrege: https://cityofholdrege.org/
• Alma: https://www.almacity.com/

The cotton gin is a widely known device and was once a staple of southern homes. But what does it do? And how has the invention of the device changed the course of our history?

What is a Cotton Gin?

The cotton gin, the word “gin” short for “engine,” works like a strainer. A contraption of hooks drags the cotton fibers through mesh, which filters out the sticky seeds in the cotton. The hooks then pull through the mesh containing the cotton fibers alone. On display at Harold Warp Pioneer Village is a hand-cranked gin from Greenville, Tennessee, but larger gins would be powered by horse or steam engine. A hand-held gin alone could prepare 50 pounds of cotton in a single day, a huge increase from the average amount of cotton cleaned in the past, at just one pound a day. It often sat near the fireplace and next to the spinning wheel, hanker, and hand loom, all used in combination to make yarn and weave it into a final product. 

Who Invented the Cotton Gin?

Eli Whitney, a Yale-graduate who moved from Massachusetts to Georgia in 1792, invented the cotton gin within months of moving, backed by the guidance and finances of his neighbors, Catherine Greene and Phineas Miller. He noticed that it was much more difficult to manually pull out the seeds in short-staple cotton. The easier-to-clean, long staple cotton could only be grown along the coast. Aiming to get rich with his invention, he succeeded in patenting the gin in 1794. His plans did not pan out as hoped. Most farmers copied his invention, and the lawsuits brought against thieves of his idea were to no avail. Eventually, him and his partners sold the rights to the patent to South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. 

How has the Cotton Gin Changed History?

The cotton gin, while an extremely effective device, caused controversial effects that Whitney could not have possibly foreseen. It transformed the United States economy by causing cotton to become very profitable. Production doubled each decade after 1800, and it became America’s number one export; the U.S. supplied roughly 75 percent of the world’s cotton. The rise of cotton production created a double-edge-sword: with it came the rapid rise in slavery. Rising demand for cotton brought a rising demand for slaves. About 25 years after the invention of the gin, nations became increasingly divided between the northern and southern regions based on whether slavery was legal in the areas. Between 1790 and 1860, an additional eleven states became slave states in the nation, and about one in three Southerners was a slave. It is still thought by many today that the cotton gin was one of the most impactful inventions that contributed to the institutionalization of slavery and the following onset of Civil War.

Whitney’s Inventions Come Full Circle 

Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin led to the rise of King Cotton, where the South believed slavery was necessary as cotton was essentially the backbone of the southern economy.