Good old days

125 years ago

The Commoner

June 28, 1889

The sisters of the Uniontown convent, who were in Colfax last week in the interest of the proposed new Catholic school to be built here, departed for home on Sunday.

They ask a bonus for the establishment for the school of $3,000.

The committee of citizens authorized to make terms offered them $2,000.

The amount offered and that asked not being so very wide apart, it is quite reasonable to presume that terms acceptable to the management of the school and to the citizens will be agreed upon soon.

Every reasonable effort should be made by our people to secure this institution of learning to add to the magnificent educational facilities already enjoyed by the town.

Garfield is also a candidate for the school, but it is more than probable that Colfax will be the point selected for the establishment.

Thomas McCue, a Farmington prisoner released from the county jail last week, rode out of town on President Smith’s private train Saturday evening. He was discovered and bounced at the switch, but boarded again and went spinning out of sight amid the waving of the hats of the admiring crowd, bowing his acknowledgment.

100 years ago

The Colfax Commoner

June 26, 1914

More than 200 early settlers of this county gathered in Colfax last Saturday and spent several happy hours in visiting with one another listening to tales of early life in the Palouse country and feasting at well supplied banquet tables.

The reunion was arranged by the Colfax pioneers for the members of the Whitman County Pioneers’ Association, and a large crowd of visitors were well taken care of and royally entertained during their stay.

All persons who settled in the county prior to the year 1884 were eligible to participate in the gathering.

The ceremonies began promptly at noon upon the arrival of the electric train from Spokane, which bore many of the county’s pioneers.

James A. Perkins, who presided over the banquet tables, opened the program by welcoming the visitors.

75 years ago

Colfax Gazette Commoner

June 30, 1939

Walter L. Galnor has arrived here from Bowbells, N.D., expecting to buy R.V. McKenzie’s full interest in the Gamble hardware store and take possession late in July or early in August.

An ideal day favored the estimated 1,000 members of Whitman County granges and their families who attended the annual picnic Sunday in Schmuck park here. Ervin E. King, Pullman, master of the state grange, was one of the visitors who arrived in time for dinner. The swimming pool did a good business and there were two softball games.

50 years ago

Colfax Gazette

June 25, 1964

Plans for a new community hospital to replace the aging St. Ignatius building gathered new momentum this week with these developments. The first of a series of community-wide public meetings was held. Every resident of the area now served by St. Ignatius hospital in Colfax is urged to attend one or more of these meetings to learn of plans for replacing the St. Ignatius building with a modern new hospital. The hospital location committee reported that they had inspected proposed sites in the Colfax neighborhood and would recommend the former county nursing home site of Hillcrest on the Almota Road as their number one choice.

25 years ago

Colfax Gazette

June 29, 1989

Members of the Colfax Centennial Committee plan to restore the “Rip Proof” overalls sign which is one of many signs painted on the north side of the 100-year-old Masonic Building on the west side of Main Street. The sign restoration will be a summer rerun of last year’s restoration work on the Coca-Cola sign which is located on the south side of the Ellis Building. Jerry Klossner, head of the centennial committee, said they plan to rely on work by volunteers to get the “Rip Proof” sign restored.

10 years ago

Whitman County Gazette

June 24, 2004

A year-long saga by the City of Colfax to locate a community center building came to an end Monday night when the city council voted 4-2 to buy the former Elks Club building, now known as the CETC building, from the Port of Whitman.

Purchase price on the building will be $200,000.

The city’s purchase of the building grew out of a proposed multi-building restoration project in the downtown area.

City council members and officials have been briefed on the project and its relation to the CETC building was discussed in a closed door session before the council went back into public session and approved the purchase.

Mayor Norma Becker and City Administrator Emily Adams said after the meeting the city’s move to buy the CETC reflects a move by the city to take part in the restoration project that is expected to revitalize the downtown area of Colfax.

The project is being put together under the city’s newly passed historic preservation ordinance which provides for tax benefits on improvements to historic buildings.

Tekoa’s Empire Theatre board has announced plans for a “Mildred Bailey Comes Home” concert next May, which has been billed as the group’s largest endeavor. The concert will be a tribute to Mildred Rinker Bailey, a Tekoa native who was the first woman ever to sing with a big band and who went on to be a top-rated singer in the 1930s and 1940s.