Wheat Ridge was founded in 1905 as the Evangelical Lutheran Sanitarium in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Its mission was to minister to Lutherans suffering from tuberculosis. In addition to operating the sanitarium, it initiated training programs for institutional chaplains and social workers, provided devotional literature for other tuberculosis sanatoria, and funded pilot projects for Lutheran social service agencies.

In 1961, because of new outpatient treatment options for TB patients, the Colorado property was sold to a separate local Lutheran hospital association. The proceeds from the sale were used to create an endowment for its "seeding" ministry and the organization was named the Wheat Ridge Foundation. 

In 1991 the name of the organization was officially changed from Wheat Ridge Foundation to Wheat Ridge Ministries. The name was changed to better reflect the nature of the organization--to enlist God's people to actively support a servant ministry of health and hope throughout the world.