Biohazard Cleanup Near North Colfax Colfax, WA

Colfax is a city in and the county seat of Whitman County, Washington, and with Pullman it is one of the county's two principal cities — Colfax ranks second in population behind Pullman.

Colfax sits in a valley at the confluence of the north and south forks of the Palouse River, surrounded by the wheat-covered rolling hills of the Palouse country.

First settlers James Perkins and Thomas Smith claimed the site on July 10, 1870, and a sawmill and flour mill soon followed; Perkins first called the settlement Belleville before it was renamed for Schuyler Colfax, Vice President of the United States from 1869 to 1873.

The Colfax townsite was platted in February 1872, and the town was officially incorporated on November 29, 1873.

The first train reached Colfax on November 10, 1883, on the Columbia and Palouse Railroad, cementing its role as a shipping point for Palouse wheat.

In 1889-90 Colfax vied with several other finalists to host the new state agricultural college, but the honor went to Pullman, 15 miles southeast, where it became Washington State University.

Colfax was Whitman County's largest city until Pullman passed it at the 1930 census, and its population has hovered near 3,000 since 1910; the 2020 census counted 2,782 people in 1,305 households.

On Main Street stands the Codger Pole, a 65-foot chainsaw-carved monument — the largest sculpture of its type in the world — whose five cedar logs carry portraits of the 51 players from the 1938 Colfax-St. John football game and its 50-year rematch in 1988.

The Perkins House, an 1886 Victorian home of pioneer James Perkins, is now a museum and chamber of commerce office, and the 1870 log cabin behind it is the oldest standing structure in Whitman County.

Colfax's most-used park is Schmuck Park, with a swimming pool, skate park, baseball diamond and track, while McDonald Park hosts regional baseball and softball tournaments.