This article appeared in a special, jubilee edition      of the Pullman Herald on September 24, 1959



By CHARLOTTE DRUFFEL
COL TON- The town of Colton was founded in 1879, the offshoot of neighboring Uniontown, settled some years earlier, three miles to the southeast. Preliminary plans for its formation were made in June of that year when several residents of Uniontown decided to leave there and form a new town on a 480-acre farm belonging to Gregor Koshier.

An early-day newspaper, the Colton Eagle, in an April 19, 1888 issue, states somewhat obscurely that the reason for starting the new town was "dissatisfaction  with the town site proprietor of Uniontown." Members of pioneer families, however, state that en- terprising merchants sought a more central location from which to serve customers in the days  when wagon travel over primitive roads made it difficult to go any distance for supplies.

The new town was surveyed and platted in July 1879, and in the same month L. J. Wolfard moved his hotel here from Uniontown. Chris Adamson also moved his blacksmith shop here. Dr. Cole, with whom Wolfard backed the new venture, built the first new building here and J. B. Standley moved his stock of general merchandise into it in August. Thus the new town had its start. Its name was taken from the first three letters of Cole and the last three letters of Clinton, oldest son of Wolford, and the town's first schoolteacher. The post office was established in December of that year with Standley as postmaster.

First Industries-
 
The new town grew slowly until about 1882 when a number of new buildings were put up. A saloon was built that 'year, a flour mill in 1883, and a cheese factory the following year. Between 1882 and 1884 the town's first place of worship, a Methodist church, was built. This church served a congregation here until it was destroyed by fire, thought to have been caused by faulty wiring, about forty years ago.

An attempt in 1884 to build a schoolhouse, by voting a 10 mill levy, lost in a tie vote when L.J. Wolfard, one of the directors, worked so tirelessly in its behalf that he forgot to cast his own ballot.  Two years later the project carried by a large majority and a school was built.

In 1887 the Catholic families in the area petitioned the bishop of the then Nisqually diocese for permission to leave the mother parish at Uniontown and build their own church.  But it was not until 1891, after more German Catholic families had moved here from the middle west, that a frame church was built.  This was replaced in 1905 with the present beautiful brick church.

Completion of the tracks of the Spokane and Palouse railroad to Genessee through Colton gave the town a real impetus and accelerated its growth.  The little community of Leitchville about four miles west of here, a stage stop between Colfax and Lewiston, was absorbed by Colton when the stage ceased operation following the arrival of the railroad.

Two Banks, Four Saloons-

At one time the town boasted two banks, four saloons, a weekly newspaper, two hotels and numerous other businesses.  As has happened in most other small towns, however, the coming of the automobile with its more rapid transportation to larger business centers proved detrimental to many local business firms and they have gradually diminished in number.  The town still boasts a modern bank, market, proprietory drug store, insurance agency, a hardware and draper shop and two taverns, in addition to a lumber yard and three grain elevators. A physician and two lawyers have office hours here on certain days of each week.

During most of its existence Colton has supported a dual school system, a public grade and high school and a parochial grade school and Catholic high school for girls.
The town is a friendly community of thrifty and industrious people with the majority of its inhabitants bound together by ties of race and religion. Practically all the area farmers move here to spend their retirement years, and the town is justly proud of its lovely homes and well-kept lawns.

Community Projects-
 
Community projects receive the active support of the local residents, as witness the success of the annual church bazaars and other joint activities in which the people assist. The annual pioneer picnic draws many former residents back each year on the Sunday before Memorial day.

The town has two well-kept cemeteries, the Catholic cemetery and the town cemetery. The latter has been greatly improved in the last few years by volunteer labor and the use of funds donated by local people and former residents in a project spearheaded by the local post of the American Legion. The Legion Memorial park, in memory of the boys who gave their lives in the two World Wars, was landscaped by the Legion and beautified by trees donated by its past commanders.

Colton is widely famed as the location, of the annual old-time threshing exhibitions put on by Chris Busch at his farm near town. And tongue-in-cheek projects such as the Whitman County Navy, originated by W. 0. Druffel to focus attention on the benefits  which will accrue to the area through the lower Snake River development program, help to keep the town in the spotlight of public attention.

 
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