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 farmers 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. 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. It is the largest private collection of Americana, a monument to American ingenuity.
There are more than 50,000 items on display. The overstuffed nature of the place is one of its charms. You can return for a second or even third day on the same admission if you 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. The best part of the collection is not actually the collection itself, but the stories about the objects, which were all written by Harold himself. Although the objects themselves ARE cool: the first snowmobile (built in NH), the oldest Buick in existence, the first motor home (all 16,000 pounds of it built on a 1939 truck frame), and SO much more. They give the visitor a unique insight into American tenacity and creativity. The man who brought this all together was a genius, and it's unbelievable that he isn't more widely known. He created the first cling wrap (Jiffy Wrap), and the first plastic garbage bags. Check out the company--it's still around. Pioneer Village is a wonder. It's worth the trip to Minden, Nebraska.
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