A pioneer school located in Harrisburg, Banner County, Nebraska

BANNER COUNTY MUSEUM COMPLEX
200 N. Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Nebraska

http://www.bannercountyhistoricalsociety.com

As indicated on this sign on Highway 71, 17 miles south of Gering, Nebraska, the Banner County Museum Complex is located 4 miles west on    Spur 4A.  It is well worth getting off the beaten path to see how some of our ancestors lived in the late 1890's and early 1900's.  You'll find a sod house which was usually the first home built while waiting for materials for a more permanent structure. Can you even imagine an average-size family living in such small quarters?

The one-time 1 1/2 story log house was actually built in 1894.  When it was dismantled - log by log- and hauled 20 miles to the museum grounds, it was reassembled on a concrete foundation and reduced to one story.

A group of homesteaders in the Kiowa Precinct of Scotts Bluff County built the pioneer church in the 1880's.  The framing lumber was from trees in the nearby Wildcat Hills.  The church now serves as a classroom for the Flowerfield Pioneer School.

The rock building completes the museum's display of early contraction materials, sod, log and rock, used by the pioneers. The rock used for construction came from a house built in early days in the southeastern part of the county.  Volunteers rebuilt the house rock upon rock.  The rock building now represents a general store stocked to depict merchandise available in 1900 along with 1900 prices.  As with most General Stores of the past, it also has a post office and a schedule of stage lines into and out of Harrisburg at the time.

An actual 1800 log schoolhouse graces the grounds and is used as a schoolhouse for part of the Flowerfield School experience.

Pharmacy artifacts representing over 40 years of collecting are exhibited in the drug store.

A Barn that was built in 1910 holds livery-type displays.

The machine shed houses many of the implements used to tame the virgin prairie including a huge      65hp Case steam engine.  This engine is put into operation during the Museum Open House.

The old Banner County Bank was the first bank in Harrisburg and was opened soon after the town was established, probably before 1890.

This completes your tour of the Banner County Museum Complex except for the Historical Museum building. Hundreds of artifacts and articles from the prehistoric through the pioneer "sodbuster" days are displayed. Completely furnished kitchen, living room and bedroom give you an idea of how pioneer homes might have looked had you visited long ago.  Numerous display cases exhibit clothing, toys, glassware and Indian artifacts to mention only a few.

Museum Open House is held the First Sunday in June Each Year.