23 Sep
Today we visited Fort Kearny State Historic Park which is just a few miles southeast of Kearney NE. On the way there we passed a historical marker for Dobytown, which is was Kearney was called initially. Dobytown was just west of Fort Kearny. It actually grew out of the demands from the thousands of soldiers assigned and westward travelers passing by. According to the marker, "gambling, liquor and disreputable men and women were it's principle attraction"! One famous general who visited there from the fort described the terrible whiskey as "tanglefoot". Dobytown thrived from 1860-1866 as it was a supply source for those heading west and also a pony express stop. Once the Union Pacific railroad was completed in 1869 the flow of visitors slowed until the town was finally abandoned in 1871. So now you know!
Back to Fort Kearny, we stopped at the visitor center to pay our admission and our one day state park fee. Inside the visitor center is a small museum with artifacts found not only at the fort, but by local farmers who's property surrounds the area where the fort used to stand. Some pictures:
Bottles and dishes found
Padlocks and various building hardware
Cooking and eating utensils
A stump from the original Fort Kearny 90 ft tall flag staff and a hand-sewn flag that was made by residents of a local community for the 1876 Centennial of the United States. It has 13 starts and stripes and was unfurled at their 4 Jul 1876 picnic
After finishing up in the visitor center, we headed outside to look over the grounds. Based on old pictures, drawings and archeological digging, in 1964 they built a recreating of the fort's blacksmith / woodworking shop and in 1962 they reconstructed the East Fort. They also reconstructed the powder magazine and they placed posts in the ground to indicate where the other fort's buildings were located. At a future date they intend to reconstruct them also.
The blacksmith's shop, reconstructed in 1964
Inside the blacksmith's shop
Inside the woodworker's shop and supply area
Old Fort Mitchel also called the East Fort, reconstructed in 1962
Posts marking the officer's quarters
Replica of the flag staff. The "crows nest" was used daily by the bugler.
Posts that mark locations of the fort's buildings
It's amazing these structures were only active for just a few years! It's also amazing how the railroad drastically changed things. The majority of people did not use animal-drawn wagons traveling the Oregon, Mormon and California trails once the railroad was complete. Fast-forward to the automobile era and the completion of the Lincoln Highway connecting the east coast to the west coast. Then eventually came the interstate highways connecting the coasts with higher-speed byways! Doreen and I keep talking about the changes we have seen in our lifetimes and the huge changes our parents and grandparents have seen.
Speaking of "progress", after leaving the fort we drove about 10 miles south to Minden NE and the Pioneer Village. If you have kept up with our blog on this trip and past trips you know we have visited many, many places that could be called a "pioneer village". My comment to Doreen on the way down to Minden was, "I'm not paying $20 or more per person to see another 'pioneer village'. I am about 'pioneer villaged-out!"
Well, soon we arrived at Minden Nebraska and their "Pioneer Village". The place is huge from the outside and I qualified my comment that, "Well, I might go $20 but that is it!" LOL As soon as we stepping through the door I knew that we had stumbled on to another "nugget"!! I just kept saying "WOW" as we headed to the window to pay , and it was only $15 minus our military discount. I would have paid $30!
So, the Pioneer Village in Minden NE was the brain child of Harold Warp, pioneer of a plastics product called Flex-O-Glass where he made his fortune. In 1948 he purchased the country schoolhouse he attended as a child and it grew exponentially from there to 28 buildings on 20 acres with more than 50,000 items displayed. Now his son runs it. It is described as "the story of America and how it grew". In summary, it is a village of acquired buildings full of stuff! Each of the 28 buildings is basically focused on one topic. There is a firehouse with old fire equipment. There is his schoolhouse completely equipped. There is a church, a china shop, a hobby shop, farm machinery, bicycles, a train station with locomotives, and on and on. So through the turnstyle we went and HOLY COW!
The first area was entitled "transportation" and the items in there we unbelievable. There were row after row of carriages and automobiles and aircraft hanging overhead, but here are a few pictures of the unique ones:
Carriages of all types
Conestoga wagon
1910 Hartman biplane. This specific plane was the first to fly from New York to Philadelphia round trip, and also the first to carry air mail.
Beautiful old automobiles
This is an exact replica of the 1903 Wright Brothers flying machine
1916 Red Bug, Smith Motor Wheel Speedster. It was purchased by Frank B Miller in Cedar Falls Iowa. In 1933 it was reconditioned and sent to the Miller's grandson in Illinois. Pioneer Village acquired it in 1953. Notice the motor in the rear wheel!
Extensive telephone collection
A traveling salesman wagon
A horse-drawn hearse
Clocks, shavers, typewriters, and on and on!!!
If I post pictures of all the "out" buildings and their contents you will be looking at this for the next hour, so I will try to be selective!
Original Elm Creek Indian Stockade
A general store completely stocked with items
An original land office where people applied for homestead land
A firehouse with equipment
Train station full of equipment and trains outside
His original building, the school house he attended as a kid
Old baseball equipment
This is so awesome. Recreated pictures of the teacher and the student (Mr Warp) in this building!
Actual sod house
Building full of antique china and glassware
1884 Church - first one in Minden with original pews, pulpit and organ. Still used for weddings and baptisms
This area was under reconstruction but contained antique farm machinery, tractors and trucks, livery stable, more automobiles, blacksmith shop, steam engines, 1879 steam-powered merry-go-round
An actual pony express station
Household appliances of ALL types!
Refrigerators, freezers
All types of stoves and ranges
Antique hand appliances
Building full of "collections"
Collections of salt and pepper shakers, pencils, pens, buttons, etc
An old style café which serves food and ice cream in the summer. Closed now.
Back in the main building - overhead is the first jet-powered airplane! A Bel P-59 1942
Cessna NC-8141 1929 Monoplane. The first Cessna to have internally braced (cantilever) wing
Chicago horse-drawn fire engine #17
A "Amphicar" amphibious automobile. Built between 1960-1965. Travels across the highway and travels across the lake!
Propellers in the back!
Hundreds of very old outboard motors
Beautiful weapons collection
I own a Remington Model 11 like the fourth from the right!
A whole building full of women's wear, by the decade
Racks of camera equipment.
If you are in this area we highly recommend visiting the Pioneer Village, and suggest allowing a couple days if you are able. They have a motel and a campground adjacent to the museum.
So, successful day. Tomorrow we will likely get groceries, fuel and do all those "day before" tasks in preparation for our departure Sunday morning.
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