Colfax County was created in 1869 and named for the then vice-president of the United States. The town of Colfax was promoted by developers of the Rocky Mountain, the St. Louis and the Pacific Railroad near the turn of the century. They advertised Colfax as a good farming opportunity close to the expanding coal operations at Dawson and also close to Cimarron.

A post office opened in 1908. A modest community with a school, a church, a hotel, a general merchandise and a gas station survived into the thirties, but the postoffice closed in 1921. The town was obviously simply too near Dawson and Cimarron to keep its own identity.

Unfortunately, all buildings collapsed, so there are only a few foundations , walls and a couple of railroad cars at the site.

This is all that remains of the old schoolhouse.