The Perkins House was built by James Perkins, the founder of Colfax, in 1886.  A cabin on the grounds built in 1870 is the oldest standing building in Whitman County.  The house was the center of Colfax society between 1886 and 1920.

Much work has been done recently on the Perkins house to restore it to appropriate Victorian colors.  The roof, which was also in very bad condition was completely replaced with cedar shakes like the original.  The paint picks out the ornate detail of the house that tended to be obscured by the previous all white exterior.  With the new paint, various architectural features stand out, in particular, the quoins on the corners of the house.

At the Ice Cream Social in 2001, Jeanette Sabo, granddaughter of James and Jenny Perkins, age 104, said that the house now looks just as she remembers it!

More remains to be done to restore the house.  In the near future we will need to repair the foundation on the south side of the house.  The kitchen porch is also in need of extensive repairs, and the house needs rewiring.  Donations for this work would be greatly appreciated.

Please send them to The Whitman County Historical Society, PO Box 67, Colfax, WA 99111.

The Perkins House is also available for small weddings, bridal showers, anniversary parties, and other events in keeping with the Victorian atmosphere of the home.  A modest cleaning fee is charged for use of the house.

Contact Steve Larkin (slarkin@ci.colfax.wa.us). telephone: (509) 288-1420. The House is located at 623 North Perkins Avenue in Colfax

The Bunchgrass Historian is a periodical dedicated to the history of Whitman County, Washington. It began publication in 1973 and is published three times each year. Most issues are twenty-four pages in length. Each issue generally carries several features: a mix of recently written articles, older accounts, and important historical documents, along with personal accounts, reminiscences, oral histories, and photo essays. Copies of most back issues are available, as well as an index for volume 1 through volume 32. Contact Ed Garretson with inquiries.

ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS

These can include formal historical writing, personal recollections, or edited extracts of older material now available for reprinting. Articles should have a Whitman County focus and refrain from overly technical subject matter. Accompanying photographs are appreciated; these can be digitally scanned at 600 dpi if the author does not wish to send original historical prints.

E-mail submissions (Microsoft Word, PDF, Text files) to:
epgjr@wsu.edu

or mail submissions to the editor:

Edwin P. Garretson, Jr.
Box 61
Uniontown, WA 99179
(509) 336-3901
Bunchgrass Historian Index

The WCHS Archive is located at The Gladish Community and Cultural Center, 115 NW State St., Pullman, WA 99163, in Room 103A (on the ground floor, near the West Main Street entrance). The Archive is open every Wednesday morning from 9 am to noon and by appointment at: epgjr@wsu.edu

The Archive contains over 550 inventoried collections, a photograph collection, a map collection, and various indexes to birth, death, census, and cemetery records; an every name index to 52 local publications; and various other helpful guides and indexes.  The Archive space is shared with the Whitman County Genealogical Society, which maintains many name indexes and other reference material. We are happy to help visitors with their research questions and can attempt to checkout email inquiries.

The Archive welcomes donations of records, photographs, diaries, ledgers, and other materials that reflect the history of our county. Our entire collection is due to the generosity of those who have turned valuable records and materials to the Whitman County Historical Society.

For more information and assistance please contact Ed Garretson via e-mail at:
epgjr@wsu.edu

Mailing Address: WCHS Archive, PO Box 67, Colfax, WA 99111

The Historical Society has a number of ongoing projects including the Perkins House in Colfax, Washington, the oldest house in the county; the WCHS Archive located in the Gladish Community Center in Pullman, Washington; and the Roy Chatters Newspaper and Printing Museum, located in Palouse, Washington.

The Society sponsors an Ice Cream Social the last Sunday in June.

Officers and Board of Directors 2011-2012

President: Mahlon Kriebel (Garfield)

Vice President: Dave Appel (Colfax)

Secretary: Ed Garretson (Uniontown)

Treasurer: Cheryl Kammerzell (Colfax)

GREG Partch (Garfield)

Janet Barstow (Palouse)

Greg Druffel (Colton)

Dan Leonard (Colton)

Pat Flansburg (Palouse)

Kathy Meyer (Pullman)

Steve Larkin (Colfax)

About the Museum

The Newspaper and Printing Museum preserves the equipment and methods of letterpress and linotype printing. The museum also holds an extensive collection of early newspapers from throughout Whitman County and has rotating exhibitions featuring artifacts and photographs from the region. While all of the equipment used by early-day printers is still operational, it is obsolete or unsuited to modern printing practices. This equipment and the extensive collection of county newspapers provide a unique opportunity for research in letter-press printing technology and in local history.

The museum is open on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm or by appointment. We don’t  mind spur-of-the-moment requests and want to share this museum as much as we can!  Group tours are welcome as well, with advanced notice. Please call Janet Barstow at (509) 878-1742 to arrange a visit.

Genealogical research is also available, with a donation requested for this service. Whitman County newspapers available for research include: Endicott 1904-57, Garfield 1888-1951, LaCrosse 1910-65, Palouse 1892 to present; Rosalia 1900 to ?, St. John 1918-41, and Tekoa 1919-57.

History of the Museum

Roy M. Chatters was a retired nuclear engineer from Washington State University.  There was a printing background in his family however, and when he retired, he began a quest to collect antique printing equipment with the dream of setting up a working museum. Much of this equipment would simply have ended up in the scrap metal heap, as printers began turning to safer, more efficient methods of printing. Dr. Chatters loved tinkering with his machines, and sharing them with others.

Through the years, he also acquired a vast collection of newspapers from around the country, and especially Whitman County. There is a near-complete collection of Whitman County newspapers here in the museum, covering Endicott, LaCrosse, Garfield, Tekoa, Rosalia, St. John and of course, Palouse, dating back to the 1880s. These papers are available for research, with donations requested for this service. Colfax and Pullman newspapers maintain their own archives.

The museum was open for 20 years, until the flood of 1996 caused extensive damage to the wooden floor, and it was closed for safety reasons. We are proud to present it to you once again, new and refurbished, with the same spirit of paying tribute to the printers and newspaper editors who worked so hard to bring the only news available to their readers. It’s appropriate that the Roy M. Chatters Newspaper and Printing Museum re-opened on Palouse Day, as it was Palouse Day 1976 when it was first dedicated to J. B. and Olga West, who donated the building for use as a museum.

Fore more information about the museum:

Janet Barstow (barstow@palouse.com) (509) 878-1742