Harold Warp

{{Short description|American businessman and inventor}}

{{Infobox person

|name = Harold Warp

|image =

|caption =

|birth_name =

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1903|12|21}}

|birth_place = Minden, Nebraska, US

|death_date = {{Death date and age|1994|04|8|1903|12|21}}

|death_place = Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US

|burial_place = Schiller Park, Illinois, US

|known_for = Flex-O-Glass

}}

Harold Warp (December 21, 1903 – April 8, 1994) was an American businessman who invented Flex-O-Glass. He also founded Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska.

{{cite web

|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/04/12/plastics-industry-pioneer-harold-warp/

|title=Plastics Industry Pioneer Harold Warp

|publisher=Chicago Tribune

|author=Kenan Heise

|date=April 12, 1994

|access-date=August 20, 2015}}

{{cite web

|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4471386

|title=Overview of Flex-O-Glass, Inc.

|publisher=BloombergBusiness

|author=

|date=

|accessdate=August 20, 2015}}

{{cite web

|url=http://www.warpbros.com/detail.asp?section=windows&cat=flex-o-glass&product=1

|title= Flex-O-Glass®

|publisher=Warp Bros.

|accessdate=August 21, 2015}}

Harold Warp was born in a sod house on a farm near Minden, Nebraska. He was the youngest of twelve children born to an immigrant family from Norway. When he was three years old, his father died and his mother died when he was eleven. In 1924, he and two of his brothers moved to Chicago with a patent for a plastic window material he had developed. Their business became successful and in time its product line grew to include many other plastic products. Warp Bros. is still in business and remains under family ownership. Harold Warp was the recipient of numerous awards including the Horatio Alger Award in 1979 and the Distinguished Nebraskalander Award in 1984.

{{cite web

|url=http://journalstar.com/news/local/mckee-harold-warp----from-plastic-film-and/article_06d6f1ab-a5d5-5e8e-a8e9-e81fd553bba5.html

|title=McKee: Harold Warp -- from plastic film and Pioneer Village

|publisher=JournalStar.com

|author=Jim McKee

|date=July 20, 2014

|accessdate=August 20, 2015}}

{{cite web

|url=https://www.horatioalger.org/members_info.cfm?memberid=war79

|title= Harold Warp, Founder Flex-O-Glass, Inc.

|publisher=1979 Horatio Alger Award Winner

|accessdate=August 21, 2015}}

{{cite web

|url=http://www.nebraskalandfoundation.org/programs/distinguished-nebraskalander-award

|title= 1984 - Harold Warp

|publisher= Nebraskalandfoundation

|accessdate=August 21, 2015}}

Warp attended Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, possibly the only baseball game he attended in his life. He filmed a portion of the game on 16-mm film, including Babe Ruth's called shot. The film was revealed to the public by Warp's family in 1999, showing Ruth gesturing and appearing to point prior to hitting his famed home run.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/24/sports/baseball-old-home-movie-captures-the-shot-the-babe-called.html |title= BASEBALL; Old Home Movie Captures the Shot The Babe 'Called'|website=The New York Times|date = December 24, 1999}}{{cite web |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/did-babe-ruth-call-his-shot|title=True or false? The Babe called his shot|website=The New York Times|date = February 6, 2020}}

He opened Pioneer Village in 1953 in Minden, Nebraska. Most of the objects on display were personally collected by him in his life time. In 1983, Warp donated the museum to the nonprofit Harold Warp Pioneer Village Foundation.{{cite book|title=Exploring Nebraska Highways: Trip Trivia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rjRdGsXE_joC&pg=PA86|year=2007|publisher=Exploring America's Highway|isbn=978-0-9744358-7-9|page=86}}

{{cite web

|url=http://www.fmca.com/motorhome/destinations/1634-harold-warp-pioneer-village

|title=Harold Warp Pioneer Village

|publisher=Family Motor Coach Association

|accessdate=August 20, 2015}}