Photo: Cmasi, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Created in 1977 the city museum of Loma Plata is informative, of historical type and it shows the emigration of the Mennonites out of Canada and into Paraguay. The process of the initial settlement in the Chaco, the hardships of the first years of colonization are excellently displayed through a very nice selection of photographs. The journey of the original scouting team that came from Manitoba (Canada) in 1921 receives special attention with vivid descriptions, photos, and even an original map presented to the early colonists. There is also a map detailing the initial route taken through the Chaco to reach the actual site of Loma Plata. Other photos depict different aspects of the early life in the Mennonite colonies from education to farming.
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city industrial plant
The largest employer in the city is undoubtedly the Chortitzer cooperative, therefore a visit to its largest factory, a major industrial plant in Paraguay, that produces dairy products under the brand Trébol is an important city sight to be visited while in Loma Plata.
city park
The city park of Loma Plata which belongs to, as almost everything else in town, to the cooperative is a nice open space, centrally located, with lots of trees.
One of the best preserved historical sites from the Chaco War. Isla Poí was the seat of command of marshal José Félix Estigarribia, the Paraguayan commanding general during the conflict. An open air museum with weaponry, the former military barracks, and photographs.
Historic place of the first contact between Mennonite and indigenous people in 1921. Temporary camp of the Mennonites in 1927/8. It was a military hospital and control checkpoint during the Chaco War in 1932-35. Today there is a museum showing a big barn and agriculture equipment. A natural lagoon and self-guided paths.
This was the first camp the early Mennonite pioneers established in the Chaco in 1927. A food deposit, a school, an agricultural experimental field, and a graveyard were built here. Today a monument, a water reservoir and a rest place for the convoys of wagons mark this camp.
Kilómetro 145-Fred Engen station
An old railroad station that belonged to Carlos Casado Company. It was operational until 1961 and was the only transportation link available to the Mennonites that had to transport all their crops and products on horse or oax carts to the railroad station Km 145. It is a place where the Mennonites from the different colonies and the Paraguayan authorities met each other. Today there are building restored, pictures and artifacts from the early colonial days.