Founding year: the first Colfax post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Colfax’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Colfax is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Colfax’s overall grade.
Louisiana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Louisiana town has 3.8 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Colfax’s 48.4 sits above most of its state (82% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Colfax’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Colfax is most known for a Reconstruction Era massacre known as the Colfax massacre which took place Easter, April 13, 1873, to quell black voting. One hundred-fifty African Americans and three whites were killed in one of the most egregious acts of terrorism during Reconstruction. A white militia was led against freedmen by Christopher Columbus Nash, who claimed to have been elected sheriff on a Fusionist/Democratic slate. Freedmen were defending Republican officials at the county courthouse and had gathered there as tensions rose in a post-election dispute. A contemporary report by the U.S. military documented the three white fatalities and 105 black victims by name, with 15-20 unidentified blacks found in the Red River. The disproportionate number of deaths between whites and blacks, and documented accounts that at least 50 black prisoners were executed while unarmed and under contro…
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Questions about Colfax’s history
What year was Colfax founded?
The Colfax post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Colfax rank for history?
Colfax is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Colfax?
5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the McNeely House (listed 1983, the first), and 1 historic district, the Hotel Lesage, with 2 contributing buildings. 6 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Colfax?
13% of Colfax’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1971.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
