The Tri-Township Preservation Group — which includes Breen, Felch and West Branch townships — opened its history room in June.

“The group started out as just a Facebook page to share photos and articles from the townships with community members,” Pam Miller said.

The idea to expand to preserve the area’s historical artifacts and documents developed when Eva Carlson was in the process of her own family history research. “As she was working on her project, she accumulated a lot of information in the process,” Miller said.

The Preservation Group approached the Felch Township Board during a regular meeting to ask for some storage space. “We originally were just looking for a drawer or two in a file cabinet and they gave us a whole room,” Carlson said.

ORGANIZERS SAY The Archives, history room in the Felch Community Center, already is filling up with donated materials. (Betsy Bloom/Daily News photo)

Since that time, they have been busy collecting historical items.

The Archives has obtained a large number of school sports memorabilia artifacts such as photos, trophies and gear, including a donation from Harold Johnson — a collection of basketball items from the 1950s put together by Jim Anderson.

North Dickinson County School District assisted with the old graduation photos, which use to line the walls of the high school, as well as trophies. “If they come across any memorabilia, like old Felch Flash newsletters, they have been great with passing it on to us,” Carlson said.

Carlson noted that the first school in Felch was hit by lightning and burned down, which killed her great-uncle. “This makes it very difficult to acquire anything from that time period,” she added.

A surprise donation was planks of flooring from the old Felch High School gymnasium that closed in 1971. “The school has been gone for years, it’s just so neat to have a piece of that history here,” Carlson said.

SOME OF THE class photos from the former Felch High School, which opened in 1912 and operated until Felch and Channing consolidated in 1966 into North Dickinson County Schools. At left is The Scroll, with pages and signatures for each Felch graduating class. (Betsy Bloom/Daily News photo)

Another great addition came from Anita Mattson — class pictures from the Longfellow School of Foster City that hung on the walls of a bed and breakfast.

They now have designated areas for businesses, school, church, sports, mining, logging and agriculture and veterans.

Carlson and Miller are currently working on files of obituaries, organizations, weddings, businesses, families, church, veterans, logging, mining and agriculture industry from the townships.

“We also have old yearbooks, telephone books, cookbooks, and centennial books,” Carlson said.

A lot of important historical facts on the tri-county area can be found in the “Felch Township Centennial Book, 1878-1978,” written by Beatrice “Bea” Blomquist, former historian of the Menominee Range Historical Foundation.

A COPY OF a stock certificate for the Felch Township Telephone Company, set up in 1921. (Betsy Bloom/Daily News photo)

They also have received a number of unidentified photos. “Especially pictures from the early 1900s through the 1940s, — we have no idea who they are, just that the photo was taken in locally,” Carlson said.

The preservation group encourages photo donations even without identification, as it is possible a visitor may recognize them.

Many of donations that have come through learned about The Archives room through its Facebook page. “We are surprised how many has how far it has reached — including Texas,” Carlson said.

The Archives welcome any photos, articles or memorabilia that pertain to the three township area. “At this point we will take anything, but that may have to change in the future,” Carlson said.

Tri-Township Preservation Group also would like to start filling in gaps since the Felch centennial in 1978 — anything that was added since that time, such as new business or churches. “We are looking to expand on that,” she said.

“People are surprised that we are quite full already and what we have displayed in a couple of months,” Miller said.

The group extends an appreciation to the Felch Township Board, as they have been very supportive of the project.

The Felch-Breen-West Branch Veterans of Foreign Wars Post has also been of great assistance with their veterans display.

“We thank everyone for their help and donations,” Carlson said. “It’s been fun.”

Anyone seeking information for family reunions or class reunions are invited to come in to do research.

The Archives is open from 10 a.m. to noon Mondays and by request.

“We try to accommodate everyone — we have had several former residents stop in on vacation,” Carlson said.

For more information, call Carlson at 616-916-5752 or Miller at 906-239-9395.