"For thousands of years Man lived quite simply. Then like a sleeping giant our world was awakened. In a mere hundred and twenty years of eternal time Man progressed from open hearths, grease lamps and ox carts to television, supersonic speed and atomic power."
- Sign over Pioneer Village entrance
Henry Ford and Harold Warp -- Captains of Industry. But which one did the better job of hoarding for posterity and exhibiting the artifacts of Industry?
While the late Warp could not begin to equal Henry Ford's Museum and Greenfield Village in size or monetary investment, his Pioneer Village wins points for sincerity.
Harold Warp was president and founder of Warp Plastics, a Chicago-based manufacturer of window screening material such as Flex-O-Glass, Glass- O-Net and Red-O-Tex. If you haven't heard of any of these products then you're obviously not a Midwest chicken farmer, for it is these humble men of the soil who bought Warp's products and made him a millionaire.
And what did he do with his millions? He didn't buy fancy cars and swimming pools. No sir. He bought his hometown schoolhouse, his hometown church, an old depot, fort and land office and other places of no particular historical significance, and stuck them together in his Pioneer Village. Warp's collection now comprises over 25 buildings, including the oldest merry-go-round in the United States, which you can still ride for a nickel.
There are more than 50,000 items on display., The overstuffed nature of the place is one of its charms. Visitors can return for a second or even third day on the same admission if they need the extra time to take it all in...
Harold Warp has dedicated the 100,000 square feet of his Village to the period between the years 1830 and 1960 -- a period in which he believes America made its most important inventive strides.
There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, like the 1974 Pinto owned by Warp's son, but for the most part Warp remains true to his word. His exhibits include the world's second oldest Buick and a piece of the actual tin foil used on Edison's first phonograph (Ford must spin in his grave at the thought). He also has a monkey wrench exhibit in the agricultural building, the world's largest collection of restored farm tractors, and a living display of all seven native Nebraska grasses.
Boring? Former Secretary of the Interior Fred Seaton put it best; "What Warp has created probably isn't as greatly appreciated today as it will be in a few years."
