Latah Valley saw its first wave of settlers about 1872, which included Richard and Lydia Wimpy family, Hosea and Harriette Harvey family, and Henry and Julia Coplan family. In those days, the settlement took the name of the nearby stream, Hangman's Creek. The stream received its name from the tragic events of 1858, when Col. George Wright hanged several members of the local native tribes in retaliation for the defeat of Lt. Col. Edward J. Steptoe at the Battle of Pine Creek. The exact jurisdiction seems to have been of question in the beginning, as the first postmaster of "Hangman's Creek" was Richard H Wimpy, appointed March 19, 1873, in Nez Perce County, Idaho. The post office was transferred to Stevens County, Washington Territory, on May 5, 1873, with R. H. Wimpy still the postmaster. That section of Stevens County became Whitman County, and finally Spokane County. Meanwhile, Hangma…
Peaked at 339 in 1910; 185 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Latah’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Latah in 1900
Passages that mention Latah, cut from the printed page as they were published.
An illustrated history of Spokane county, state of Washington1900 · page 161Read the page →
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The clnu'ch at Latah was organized at the Alpha school house, some two miles from the present town of Latah, l>y Elder C. T. Wright in March, 1883, with a charter membership of twenty-three. Regular ser\'ices were continued for a time in the school house. Afterwards, when the town of Latah was started, a neat, comfortable house of worship, with a seating-
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An illustrated history of Spokane county, state of Washington1900 · page 405Read the page →
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and became one of the first settlers of that section. He took up a farm, but only remained four years, then came to Eugene, Oregon. In 1877 he miived to Latah, purchased one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land near the town and farmed until 1895. when he moved into Latah and assumed charge of the Coplen House. After spending two years in the
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Latah, 1872 to 1954
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Latah. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1954Fairfield 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 Latah.
Every building
Latah, building by building, 1892–1928
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
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 (1), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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