Wing House Museum
Open April through November
3rd Saturday of the Month from Noon until 4:00 P.M.
Or by appointment
Location: 27 South Jefferson Street Coldwater, MI 49036
Appointment Tours contact: 269-251-7179 (Penny)
Leave a message: 517-278-2871
Step back in time and enjoy a guided tour of the museum with history and stories galore. The Wing House Museum is a unique example of the 19th century Second Empire architecture. Learn how families worked and thrived in the late 1800s at this home museum that is one of the very few available year-around to the public. The home was built by the Chandler family for their son, Jay, and his bride-to-be, Francis Campbell, in 1875. Learn about the turn of events that led to the dissolution of their marriage and the subsequent sale of their beautiful home to prominent businessman Lucius M. Wing in 1882. Lived in by three generations of the Wing family, it was sold to the Branch County Historical Society in 1974. The museum still contains many of the Chandler and Wing furnishings and artifacts that were included with the home to the historical society.
Little Red School House
Owned and operated by the Branch County Historical Society
Open during the Branch County Fair in the first full week of August
Hours: Approximately Noon until 5:30 P.M., Monday to Saturday
Location: On the Branch County Fairgrounds property South Sprague Street, Coldwater, MI
Children groups may arrange special visits by calling 269-251-7178
The first Quincy schoolhouse was a log cabin built around 1841. In 1846 they enlarged the school and built it from mill cut lumber. This small one-room schoolhouse was used from 1846 until approximately 1852 when it was moved and a larger again school was built on the same location. Two groups wanted the building when it was to be moved in 1852, and the community settled the winner of the building by a unique oxen pulling contest. It was used for many different purposes over the decades until it was finally abandoned to sit and wait for demolition. Fortunately, the building was obtained by historical society member, Elmer Dobson, who arranged to have it moved to the Branch County Fairgrounds where the society went about refurbishing it with historic school items. It is used to demonstrate to children what kind of lifestyle and learning environment their ancestors experienced compared to their school experience of today.
Historic Sites
Blue Star Memorial – Union City
This site is located on the north side of the St. Joseph River on the east side of the downtown bridge, the Historic Marker reads: Blue Star Memorial, a tribute to the Armed Forces that have defended the United States of America. HISTORIAN NOTES (Dave McDonald): In a small memorial park located directly on Read More
Branch County & Branch County Courthouse Site
31 Division Street – Coldwater This Historic Site marker is located next to the brick clock tower located at the corner of E. Pearl & Division Streets. Its location is near the north edge of the ground on which the old Branch County Jail once sat. Two previous courthouses have sit on the property that Read More
Bronson Public Library
Located on Matteson Street north of the 4-Corners stoplight, the Historic Marker reads: The Bronson Library originated in the early 1880’s as the Ladies Library Association. In 1888 the township assumed ownership. Built with funds donated by steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie, the Classical Revival Bronson Public Library opened on May 23, 1912. This structure typifies Read More
Chicago Road
Located on Chicago Road west of Bronson in highway park, the Historic Marker text: One of the great routes for the pioneers coming west was the Chicago Road. The survey of the road began at Detroit in 1825 and followed closely the Sauk Trail which Indians had marked and traveled for centuries before the coming Read More
City of Bronson Sesquicentennial 1866 – 2016
Located in the city park at the 4-corners stoplight downtown Bronson, the Historic Marker reads: Bronson was named after Jabez B. Bronson, who was the first settler to the area, moving her from Ohio in 1828. He became the first postmaster in 1830, calling it Bronson’s Prairie. It was incorporated as a village in 1866. Read More
City of Coldwater 1861 – 1961
The CITY OF COLDWATER 1861 – 1961 marker is located at the intersection of Chicago & Marshall Streets, the Historic Marker reads: Potawatomie Indians ceded Coldwater Prairie to the United States in 1827. The Indians called it “Chuck-sew-ya-bish”, meaning “cold water spring”. Coldwater is located at the junction of Old Sauk and Fort Wayne Indian Read More
First Congregational Church – Union City
Located on Broadway Street at north end of downtown district, Historic Marker reads: On March 7, 1837, the Reverend Calvin Clark of Homer led sixteen people in organizing the First Congregational Church of Union City. The congregation is likely the oldest of this denomination in the state. This Romanesque Revival building dates from 1862. Additions Read More
First Presbyterian Church – Coldwater
Located on Marshall Street in front of the First Presbyterian Church, the Historic Marker text: Organized in 1837, the same year that Coldwater became a village, the local Presbyterian society held services in various quarters until 1844 when it erected its first church. It completed the present Romanesque Revival-style brick church in 1869 at a Read More
Governor Cyrus G. Luce
This historic marker is located in front of the Coldwater City Police office on the northeast corner of Division and Washington Streets. “On this site lived Cyrus Gray Luce, twenty-seventh Governor of Michigan. Born in Ohio in 1824, he moved to Branch County about 1849. He soon became involved in township, local and state politics, Read More
Masonic Temple (Former Henry C. Lewis Art Gallery)
Located on the northeast corner of E. Chicago & N. Hudson Streets, the Historic Marker reads: Masonic Temple side – The Tyre Lodge #18 Free and Accepted Masons and their female relatives formed the Order of the Eastern Star Chapter that became the oldest continuous Eastern Star chapter in the world. IN 1913, Coldwater Masons Read More
Michigan Library Association
Located at 10 E. Chicago Street in front of Library, the Historic Marker text: The first formal step toward the founding of a state library association was taken by Mary A. Eddy, of the Coldwater Free Public Library, in a letter to Henry M. Utley of the Detroit Public Library on January 13, 1891. They Read More
Union City Iron Furnace
Located approximately fifty yards south on Coldwater Road in the Village of Union City, the historic marker reads: On March 17, 1847, the Union City Iron Company was incorporated with leading citizens of the town as stockholders. The company was formed to produce iron from the bog and kidney iron ore deposits in Union and Read More
Wing House Museum (Branch County Historical Society)
Located at 27 S. Jefferson Street, Coldwater, The Historical marker reads: North Side – This impressive Second Empire style home with mansard roof was constructed in 1875 for Jay M. Chandler (1850-1884) and his young bride Francis. On this site from 1847-1871 had stood the Parrish flouring mill. Jay, the fourth son of locally prominent Read More
- Loomis Battery Cannon
- First Presbyterian Church
- The Chicago Road
- Branch County Courthouse Site
- St. Marks
- Coldwater Public Library
- 1883 Victorian Train Depot