Cedar Vale Miniature Village

by Gary White

I remember in my youth in Cedar Vale, Kansas that there was a house in my neighborhood in the southwestern corner of the town with the most unusual appearance. The house was not remarkable, but the yard was unlike anything I had seen. It was filled to the brim with miniature houses, all in neat rows and identified by the name of the owner. This was the home of Frank and Ida Zimmerman, a couple in their 80s. Frank, it seems, was the master carpenter who had built all these houses. There was a high hedge all around the house, so that we had to enter through the gate. Just inside the gate was a box for paying admission to the village, which represented Cedar Vale in the 1930s or even earlier. The Zimmermans were always on hand to give us a guided tour and point out all the buildings that we knew and to talk about them. After the tour, there was usually some refreshment that Ida had prepared for us. They always seemed very happy to spend some time with any of the kids in the neighborhood.

As unusual as the yard was the garage, which was covered with old license plates, mostly from Chautauqua County Kansas. Inside the garage was Frank’s workshop and a very old wooden school bus. It seems that Frank had built the school bus in the 1920s and used it to haul children to school for many years. The 1930 Federal Census lists Frank’s occupation as “Bus Driver--School Bus." Perhaps this long experience with children accounted for the warm welcome we all received in visiting their little museum of Cedar Vale’s past. I never thought about what their motivation might be for being so generous with their time. Now I rather think that they were interested in preserving some of the history of the town and educating us kids about that history.

The miniature village ceased to exist when the Zimmermans were no longer there. Frank went to Sedan, where he died September 1, 1958 at the age of ninety. Many of the original houses in the miniature village now reside in the Cedar Vale Museum where another generation of young people can admire them. If you have further information about the Zimmermans or the miniature village, please comment.