Tag Archives: Nebraska

Pioneer Village Kitchen, 1930, Minden, Nebraska

The second kitchen display is 40 years after the previous one shown, and illustrates the widespread availability of gas and electricity in this era.

Made by Dexter, West Nyack, N.Y.


The description states:
1930 KITCHEN
The housewife of 1930 had things very “modern” when the stove burned a natural gas flame. The iron and toaster were now electric. The 12 gauge shotgun was now automatic and the icebox electric. The phonograph came in a cabinet and the radio brought entertainment. The Singer Sewing Machine had a drop head, the telephone was improved with batteries inside and the sink had hot and cold running water. Electricity had come to America’s kitchens.
–This card likely dates from the 1960s.

19th Century Kitchen, Pioneer Village, Minden, Nebraska

This shows the typical accommodations and features of a pioneer kitchen at the turn of the 20th Century. More urban or wealthy families would have more and greater numbers of appliances or devices, often including gas and electrical ones. This image includes the basic wood burning stove and cooker, which was almost always in the same room where the food was eaten.

Made by Dexter, West Nyack, N.Y.


The description states:
1890 KITCHEN
With a cook stove that has oven doors on each side, a single barrel 8 gauge shotgun, tin icebox with Lazy Susan shelves, portable organ, oak cradle, drop-leaf pad table. Kerosene lamp with chimney, a kerosene stove, dry sink with pail and dipper. All showing the continued progress of man from 1830.
–This card likely dates from the 1960s.

Pioneer Village Print Shop, Minden, Nebraska

This shows a few of the machines and devices for printing in a time before electricity or other power assistance. There is a hand press in the back, and what appears to be a rotary press in the left foreground. The shop sign shows three ‘printer’s devils’, the title of the printer’s apprentices in such businesses. Many famous American’s worked as printer’s devils, including Samuel Clemens, known as Mark Twain.

Made by Dexter, West Nyack, N.Y.


The description states:
PRINT SHOP
One of 14 Old Craft Shops Seen Here
20,000 items in 20 buildings on 2 city blocks, showing man’s progress over the past 120 years. 132 Miles West of Lincoln, Nebr, on U. S. 6.
–This card likely dates from the 1960s.

Pioneer Village Apothecary Shop, Minden, Nebraska

This image shows the enormous range and variety of medicine and nostrums that were available until the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1905. Many of these concoctions contained ingredients we now consider dangerous or deadly, such as mercury and opium.

Made by Dexter, West Nyack, N.Y.


The description states:
THE APOTHECARY SHOP
1850
This was the corner drugstore prior to 1900, but it didn’t boast ice cream sodas, cigarettes and cameras. Instead, the shelves were filled with patent medicines and the drawers had such items as sassafras, cinnamon sticks, rock candy and herbs from which medicines and pills were concocted.
–This card likely dates from the 1960s.

Pioneer Village Cobbler Shop, Minden, Nebraska

This is an interior of one of many craft and trade buildings on the site of Pioneer Village. What appear to be shoes hanging from the shelving are in fact shoe lasts, the wooden forms used to make a shoe of a particular style and size. There appear to be a few shoes on the shelves themselves, but all the hanging items are wooden lasts.

Made by Dexter, West Nyack, N.Y.


The description states:
COBBLER SHOP
One of 14 Old Craft Shops Seen Here
20,000 items in 20 buildings on 2 city blocks, showing man’s progress over the past 120 years. 132 Miles West of Lincoln, Nebr., on U. S. 6.
–This postcard likely dates from the 1960s.

Doctor’s Office, Pioneer Village, Minden, Nebraska

This image highlights the doctor’s office as it would have appeared around the turn of the century. The doctor’s working desk is to the right, and the small cabinet in the center of the picture is in fact the examining table. There are leaves on both ends of the table for allowing the patient to lay flat and have their head and legs supported.

Made by Dexter, West Nyack, N.Y.


The description states:
OFFICE OF THE PIONEER MINDEN DOCTOR
30,000 items in 22 buildings on 3 city blocks, showing man’s progress over the past 120 years. 132 Miles West of Lincoln, Nebr., on U. S. 6.
This card likely dates from the 1960s.

Toy Collection, Pioneer Village, Minden, Nebraska

After a break of several months, we return to the Pioneer Village first displayed here. This card shows a substantial number of the toys representing the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Made by Dexter, West Nyack, N.Y.


The description states:
TOYS OF GRANDMOTHER’S DAY
Here you see a portion of the Toy Shop in the Pioneer Village. There is a Teddy Bear with was named after Teddy Roosevelt upon his return from an African hunting trip. You can also see a portion of the circus. Not visible is a collection of antique mechanical toy banks, of which 200 different models were made between 1856 and 1910.
–This card and the others from this series date from the 1960s.

One Room Schoolhouse, Pioneer Village, Minden Nebraska

This is a very typical example of a slightly modernized one room schoolhouse. In it, children of any school age would attend classes while a single teacher provided lessons for each of the different ability levels. Older children often helped the younger ones with their lessons. In cold weather the best seats were closest to the wood stove in the center of the room, a convenience that indicates a later upgrade.

Dexter Press, West Nyack, N.Y.


The description states:
ONE-ROOM COUNTRY SCHOOL
With desks, books and records intact. Even the dinner pails are lined up in the hall. This is one of 20 buildings around the circle at Harold Warp’s Pioneer Village, Minden, Nebraska, housing 20,000 items, showing America’s progress since 1830. On U. S. 6 and just 14 miles south of U. S. 30 near Kearney, Nebraska.
–More recently, the furniture would more closely resemble the desks just in front of the stove, which gave students a place to put their books and work on their assignments. The benches nearest the window show how a writing surface was attached to the back of the bench to provide workspace for the children in the next row.
This card dates from the 1950s.

Church Interior, Pioneer Village, Minden Nebraska

Shown is the interior of the church shown a few days ago from the outside. Of note is the black wall panel with numbers to the right of the altar. This was a song board, and the numbers indicated the number of the songs to be sung during the service, according to the numbering system in the hymnal provided to the churchgoers.

Dexter Press, West Nyack, N.Y.


The description states:
THE OLD LUTHERAN CHURCH
Interior of the first church built in Minden, Nebr., where the homesteaders and pioneers worshipped until 1950, when it was purchased by Harold Warp and moved to its present location.
–The sign in the foreground is not authentic, just a reminder to visitors to respect the function of the building as a church. This card dates from the 1950s.

Barber Shop, Pioneer Village, Minden Nebraska

Shown here are examples of early barber chairs and other acoutrements of barber shops on the frontier.

Dexter Press, West Nyack, N.Y.


The description states:
BARBER SHOP OF BYGONE DAYS
On the back door of the old Barrber Shop is a sign that reads, “Shave 10¢ — Haircut Two Bits — Bath 25¢.” The chair in the foreground is an old rorckter type of a century ago. The reed and white striped pole indicated that the barber pulled teeth and bled people as well as cut their hair. The more modern chair in the rear is a hydraulic model, first made in 1890. This is one of the 14 Craft Shops in the Pioneer Village.
–This card is contemporaneous with others in this series that date from the 1950s.