Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Colfax Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Colfax Township

Colfax Township’s post office opened in 1877, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1956 on.

1877first post office
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Colfax Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Colfax Township began

When was Colfax Township founded?

1877

The Colfax Township post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Meauwataka (1872), Wheatland (1872) and Colfax (1877), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 897149 years
Founding year: the first Colfax Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Colfax Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Colfax Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Colfax Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Colfax Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewColfax Township, Wexford County, MI loc…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Meauwataka
1872–1952
Wheatland
1872–1878
Colfax
1877–1889
Soper
1900–1901
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Meauwataka
Gone or out of use
Meauwataka Post Officepost officeWheatland Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Colfax Township
MeauwatakaSoper

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Colfax Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Colfax Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Colfax Township is a civil township of Wexford County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 897 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1877. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 840 to 897 (+7%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Colfax Township, 1872 to 1956

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Meauwataka post office opens
  3. 1872Post officeThe Wheatland post office opens
  4. 1877Post officeThe Colfax post office opens
  5. 1878Post officeThe Wheatland post office closes
  6. 1889Post officeThe Colfax post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1952Post officeThe Meauwataka post office closes
  9. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Colfax Township, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Colfax Township, Wexford County, MI locationDate?Colfax Township, Wexford County, MI location
Today3 recent
"School Dist No 2 1882 Colfax" schoolhouse, Colfax Township, Wexford County, MI 2024-06-292024"School Dist No 2 1882 Colfax" schoolhouse, Colfax To…Meauwataka, MI (July 2022)2022Meauwataka, MI (July 2022)Colfax Township, MI hall and fire department2022Colfax Township, MI hall and fire department
On the map

Colfax Township on the map, 1956 to 1987

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Colfax Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Colfax Township on the 1956 USGS mapColfax Township on the 1987 USGS map1956Mesick sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Colfax Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Colfax Township, Wexford County, MI location
Retake this viewColfax Township, Wexford County, MI location

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Colfax Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Colfax Township

Nobody well known was born in Colfax Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Jan Harold BrunvandAmerican folklorist · b. 1933
Adolph WolgastAmerican boxer · b. 1888
Guy Vander JagtAmerican politician · b. 1931
L
Luke Winslow-KingAmerican singer-songwriter, guitarist and bandl… · b. 1983
C
Claude A. WatsonAmerican politician · b. 1885
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Antioch TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSelma TownshipIts storyC−Cedar Creek TownshipIts storyCGreenwood TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Colfax Township’s history

What year was Colfax Township founded?

The Colfax Township post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (4), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.