Behind Battle Lines

Old Bradford Pioneer Village grows from humble roots

By Kate Hayden

khayden@charlescitypress.com

In the medical tent, the doctors cycled through unnerved patient/actors on top of the straw bales. Kids gathered around the tent, listening to a Union soldier “recall” the horrific sights and risks patients and medical teams put themselves through, from 32-hour work days for surgeons to the risk of fire stemming from makeshift anesthesia and tobacco. Just across the road, a few Confederate soldiers hooked up their period cannon to a shiny red Ford truck, hauling the equipment from battlefield to camp.

The Civil War Days had returned to Nashua, and Old Bradford Pioneer Village and Museum was crawling with activity. An estimated 450 visitors and re-enactors descended on the town for three days, bringing textbook lessons to life for families who attended.

“Every year it gets bigger and bigger,” maintenance manager and Historical Society member Dennis Litterer said.

Re-enactors travel in from Minnesota, Cedar Rapids and anything in between, Litterer said. It’s a far cry from when the museum was first established, and few events took place on the 11 acres by Little Brown Church. The village has gone through a gradual renovation system, expanding the offerings and attracting up to 2,000 visitors a year now.

“For 15, 20 years out here nothing was happening,” Litterer said. “We went building by building, painted them, caulked them. Now we’ve went through all the buildings and put some new sidewalk systems in.”

The village has also benefitted from four Eagle Scout projects and volunteers from the Cedar Lake Alternative School, who have helped with ongoing maintenance like brush pick-up.

“There’s plenty to do out here,” Litterer said.

There’s some big plans coming up for the museum as well. A concrete pad out by the battlefield will become the base of a Munson cabin, available to rent out as an educational center for groups interested in cooking and living like the 1840s. About $14,000 was raised for updates on the Heritage Center, and plans for a new train depot roof are also in the works.

There is also a five-year plan to add a new building to the complex –– a shelter for the Hydrotile no. 1 machine on the campus.

The village was established in 1953, and only one original building remains, Litterer said. With the help of the museum board, Old Bradford will keep growing, he said.

“We have a good group here. It’s going to be the best county museum in the state of Iowa,” Litterer added.