Colfax, Custer County, Colorado

Colfax was a short-lived communal farming community in Fremont County, Colorado Territory – now a ghost town in Custer County, Colorado, United States. The town was named after Vice President Schuyler Colfax. The Colfax post office operated from May 2, 1870, until January 16, 1879.[1]

History

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Colfax was founded in 1870 as a communal settlement of 397 German immigrants led by General Carl Wulsten. The colonists had been organized by the German Colonization society of Chicago.[2] It was the first non-indigenous community in the Wet Mountain Valley in what is now Custer County, Colorado. The principal activities were farming and cheesemaking. The communal effort failed after a frost and the settlers left the town. However, many of the settlers remained in the area as ranchers and farmers.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Bauer, William H.; Ozment, James L.; Willard, John H. (1990). Colorado Post Offices 1859–1989. Golden, Colorado: Colorado Railroad Historical Foundation. ISBN 0-918654-42-4.
  2. ^ "The Colfax Colony". Royal Gorge Regional Museum & History Center. October 6, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  3. ^ Gayle Turk (1975) Wet Mountain Valley, Colorado Springs: Little London Press, p.6.
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