Good old days

125 years ago

The Commoner

April 26, 1889

The great importance which Whitman County bears to the territory, or state, of Washington, is gratifyingly shown in the apportionment of districts, recently made by the governor, secretary and chief justice. Whitman is one of four counties whose population was sufficient to admit more than one district within its boundaries. In this respect it is exceeded only by King and Spokane counties each of which form two distinct districts and portions of a third. Pierce County contains two districts.

Colfax Lodge No. 14, I.O.O.F. of this city has about completed all arrangements for the erection this summer of a magnificent three story brick temple on the property recently purchased on north Main Street. If built in connection with the Masonic temple, the construction of which has not yet been definitely decided upon, the entire building will have a frontage of 80 feet; if built alone, it will occupy a 30-foot front.

100 years ago

The Colfax Commoner

April 24, 1914

Meadow Street is to be put on the map by being paved and, incidentally, is to have a new sewer, the new city park located a block west of the courthouse is to be leveled and seeded in grass at once in preparation for the improvement and transformation into a beauty spot.

A six-room modern, two-story dwelling with full concrete basement is being built by Mrs. May Hull on East Cooper Street at the intersection of A Street from plans drawn by J.R. Good & Co. Excavating work was completed Monday when work on the concrete foundation began. The old house on the property, built almost 30 years ago, was moved to the back end of the premises to make room for the new building.

The ladies of the Baptist church will serve chicken dinner in the dining room of the church horse show day, Saturday, April 25.

Winona flour is the acme of purity-not bleached with chemicals.

75 years ago

Colfax Gazette Commoner

April 28, 1939

Operation of the new city police signal system installed during the past few days by the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company and Carl Ragsdale is now complete except for a red globe for the socket which hangs in the center of Main Street between the fire station and the J.C. Penney store. A white globe is being used temporarily since a larger socket must be installed for the red light.

Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” is playing at The Rose Theatre. At The Roxy Theatre, “The Little Princess” starring Shirley Temple is playing.

50 years ago

Colfax Gazette

April 23, 1964

Vince Nafziger, Dusty area farmer who was seriously injured in a traffic accident last Saturday, had one less worry on his mind this morning. A group of neighbors joined to cultivate about 250 acres on Nafziger’s farm. Seven tractors and cultivating equipment were manned by neighbors to get the job done in a single day with an hour off for lunch at noon.

Perfect weather and a genial crowd went far toward making a big success of the Endicott livestock preview and fair held at the school Saturday. Janet Knott, representing the junior class, was crowned Sweetheart of the FFA during the day’s events.

25 years ago

Colfax Gazette

April 27, 1989

Colfax IGA Food Store has a new name and new owners as of the first of this week. The local food store is now called Delrossi’s after being sold by Jagtar Dhillon to Ross and Pat Long of Yakima last week. The Longs are leasing the property from Dr. Karam Dhillon.

Whitman County officials are in the process of applying for nearly $1.2 million in disaster relief funds to restore flood damaged county roads and bridges. Whitman County was one of four Eastern Washington counties declared a national disaster by President Bush two weeks ago because of extensive flood damage that occurred in March.

Bob Reynolds, Colfax appliance store operator for the past 15 years, has been hired as the new caretaker for the Palouse Empire Fair. Reynolds will be a staff member of the county parks department under the new alignment which places the fair’s operation in the park department. He replaces Dave Noble who was employed as caretaker and fair manager. Debbie Wells is the fair manager under the new organization.

St. John’s new fair building will make its debut this weekend when the community fair gets underway. Volunteers have been busy last week putting the final touches on the building. Home economics displays will be in the building.

10 years ago

Whitman County Gazette

April 22, 2004

In photos, snow is falling on some spring flowers and on Main Street in Colfax. Spring’s bounty gets an unexpected blanket of white last week. The wet, white stuff fell most of the day Thursday but turned quickly to the much needed moisture underground. Another photo shows a man on a bicycle pedaling in the snow.

Mayor Norma Becker ended Monday night’s Colfax City Council session with a verbal attack on the state’s Department of Transportation’s policy of cracking down on the commercial sign along Highway 26. The mayor said she was upset by a letter of response published in last week’s Gazette, from Al Gilson, DOT regional public information officer. Gilson’s letter noted that DOT was carrying out the law of the state in enforcing the sign code. “I think it’s a crock, that’s all,” Mayor Becker concluded.

Wanted: Volunteers to work in time consuming, emotionally draining, sometimes frustrating, sometimes heart wrenching, challenging, extremely rewarding position. Must have a real heart for children. Court Appointed Special Advocates serve as advocates for children who have been abused or neglected. Whitman County’s CASA program has been in operation since 1978. Whitman County was the second county in the state to form a CASA program.