Web Design in Breckenridge, MI

Web Design Services in Breckenridge, Michigan

AppWT Web & AI Solutions has been providing exceptional web design and digital marketing services to Breckenridge businesses since 1997. Located in Gratiot County, Breckenridge is home to approximately 1,305 residents and a thriving business community.

About Breckenridge, Michigan

Breckenridge is a village of 1,238 people (2020 census) in Wheeler Township, Gratiot County, in central Michigan. It grew up around a railroad station in 1872, and Saginaw Street, which carries M-46, is still its main business street. Timber built the place and grain and sugar beets kept it going.

History of Breckenridge

• Charles Howd made the first claim in 1860, taking 240 acres in Section 30 of Wheeler Township, though he did not settle permanently for another ten years.
• When the Saginaw Valley & St. Louis Railroad reached the area in 1872, Howd carved out part of his 240 acres to lay out the south side of town and opened a general store. Daniel W. and Justin A. Breckenridge bought land nearby and started a saw mill; Justin gave a strip of his homestead as right-of-way for the railroad bed and Daniel donated ground for a school site and for the Congregational and Methodist churches.
• A post office was established at Breckenridge on May 19, 1873, with Charles Howd as first postmaster. The original plat, about 50 acres, was surveyed by S. S. Hastings for Daniel and Mary Breckenridge on May 4, 1874.

Landmarks and Places in Breckenridge

• Drake House, 328 East Saginaw Street, a Michigan State Historic Site designated in 2009 and open to the public as the Drake Memorial House Museum.
• Breckenridge Village Park, opposite 124 E Saginaw Street, site of the Saginaw and Gratiot County State Road and Saginaw Valley and Saint Louis Railroad commemorative designation of April 18, 1996.
• Jaycee & Hoffmeyer Memorial Park, which holds the village splash park.

The Breckenridge Economy

• The railroad station made Breckenridge a shipping point for forest products, sending out hoops, staves, lumber, square timber and logs.
• Early industry included a blacksmith shop owned by Ed Smith, a hoop factory run by L. H. Town and Warren Crandell, a stave mill established in the 1870s by Hood and Peterman, and a sawmill and oar factory built by Braddock and Son of Portsmouth in Bay County that shipped carloads of white ash oars to New England. The oar factory burned on the morning of March 16, 1879, a total loss with no insurance, and was presumed an incendiary fire.
• The Travers Brothers ran another hoop factory from the winter of 1883-84 for several years. As the timber ran out the mills moved on and farming took over, with the sugar beet industry growing from about 1900.

Community Life in Breckenridge

• Breckenridge has had graded schooling since 1893, the same year Breckenridge High School graduated its first class of five students.
• Breckenridge Community Schools now runs two buildings in the village: Breckenridge Middle/High School at 700 Wright Street, built in 1966, and Breckenridge Elementary at 515 Summit Street, built in 1995. School athletics carry the Huskies name.
• The Breckenridge-Wheeler Township Fire and Rescue Department serves the village, Wheeler Township and several other townships, governed by a board of two village representatives, two township representatives and a member-at-large, with ownership split 60-40 in the townships' favor.

Local reference: en.wikipedia.org, www.breckenridgemi.com, www.breckenridgemi.com