05/17/2026
The History of the Breckenridge/Wheeler Area Historical Society
By David Briggs, BWAHS President
The Breckenridge/Wheeler Area Historical Society is entering its 32nd year of existence in 2026 and I thought that I would take some time to do a recap our Society’s history instead of focusing on some of the much earlier history of our area.
The BWAHS was founded in 1994 when a group of citizens decided to take the initiative to start an effort to preserve the history of our area. This group, with the support of the Chamber of Commerce, applied for 501c3 status in 1995 and in 1996 they were able to purchase the Pilgrim Holiness Church. This building was originally a Baptist Church built in 1882 by one of Breckenridge’s pioneer founders, Charles Howd, and after some remodeling, it became the Plank Road Museum.
At first there was a lot of interest and many volunteers went to work to turn the church into a museum. The high school CAD class designed the cubicles and helped to tear up the carpet to reveal a beautiful wooden floor. Area residents donated items and a year later, in 1997, the Plank Road Museum opened. Two years later one of the charter members of the Society, Margaret Drake Elliott, passed away and bequeathed her childhood home to the organization with the stipulation that it be used as an educational site displaying the life of an early country doctor. Her parents, Dr. Wilkie and Rhoda Drake had built the home in 1906 and that family were the only residents to live in the house.
The restoration and the preparation of the home and grounds to turn them into an educational site was a huge job and required a lot of sweat equity. The house was packed with furniture and memorabilia that had to be sorted and categorized. The grounds had become overgrown and needed lots of work to make them presentable. There were too many items in the house to be used to display the life of a country doctor, so the Society held a huge auction sale to sell the excess and those proceeds were used to fund the restoration. Two years later, in 2002, the Drake Memorial House was opened to the public.
Since then, many maintenance projects and improvements to the buildings have taken place without harming the history or the structure of the two buildings. Many volunteers and Board Members have come and gone and to list them all would require more space than I have in this column. Let’s suffice it to say that many prominent Breckenridge area citizens have had a hand in supporting the Society. If I tried to name them all, I would be sure to miss some important names, so I won’t try.
At the present time, our Board consists of 8 individuals and I will name them because they are the most important individuals to the Society at this time. Our Board consists of Linda Chapin, Glenda Bloomquist, Roxanne Most, Michael Federspiel, Carrie Schaub, Karen Giles, Caryn Jenkins, and myself, David Briggs. We offer tours and field trips to individuals and school groups and continue to preserve the history of our area. We do have two major fund raisers coming in 2026 with our Annual Perennial Plant Sale on May 13th and 14th and the 4th of July Car Show. We are currently featuring a “Local Heroes of WWII” exhibit at the Plank Road Museum with Open Houses on June 20th, July 18th, and Aug 1st in the afternoons. The Drake House is also open at all open houses.
We hope that you will come and visit our buildings this summer and also support the other historical societies in the area. To arrange a tour at our facility, call 989 842 1241 or email us at [email protected]. We also have a very informative page that you can find under the name of Breckenridge/Wheeler Area Historical Society.
