The arrival of the St. Paul, Sioux City and Omaha Railroad in southwest Minnesota in the early 1870s brought stations to the region, including a siding at Timber Lake in Delafield Township that became Wilder, named for railroad vice president Amherst H. Wilder. Wilder’s development was closely tied to Breck School, whose location there was secured when Amherst H. Wilder and others donated land. Affiliated with the Episcopal Church and named for missionary Reverend James Lloyd Breck, the school was advanced by Reverend David Griffin Gunn. Though first intended as an agricultural school for boys, it soon became a general preparatory and normal school for both men and women, later adding vocational classes such as blacksmithing. Construction began in the summer of 1885, the first building was completed in 1886, and the school opened in 1888 with 10 girls and 9 boys. Its curriculum expanded and enrollment eventually exceeded 500 at its peak. Among the most noted students during the Wilder years was Frank Mars, later founder of the Mars Candy Company. Saint James Church was rebuilt after tornado damage and reconsecrated by Bishop Whipple in 1900; after the church closed in 1917, the chapel was later turned into a barn that burned in 2014. As local high schools were established, demand for a private school declined, and Breck School closed in 1909. It reopened in St. Paul in 1916 and later grew into a respected P-12 private school in Golden Valley, Minnesota.