Wilcox School, circa 1913

The Wilcox school was located southwest of Colfax between Colfax and Dusty along highway 26 and known as District 11.

This district was eventually consolidated with the Colfax School District.

This building was built in 1913 and taught classes to all eight grades plus two years of high school.

There were four or five teachers and about 100 pupils.

The earliest school was built on the John Harper farm on Union Flat before 1880.

The story goes that a group of settlers nearer the territorial road felt that the Harper school was too far away, so one night in 1883 several brought their teams and moved the schoolhouse to a new location on Union Flat on the territorial road at the site where Wilcox grew.

In later years this original school was replaced by a two room frame building and then finally the building in the photo in 1913.

Photo courtesy Whitman County Heritage, contributed by Stan and Lynn McClintock.