Colgate Hotels & Saloons
The book Richfield Remembers The Past identifies Colgate was established in 1886. Initially the community had the usual compliment of businesses: small hotel, general store, four saloons, a tin shop, a blacksmith shop, a cheese factory, with a church and school nearby. The cheese factory went out of business in 1914. In 1916 the community was said to possess a population of 50.
With the passing of the railroad as a primary means of transportation, the closing of the cheese factory, the hotel and several saloons burning to the ground, the Community of Colgate began to fade. Today the community exists only because it once existed as is the case with many old time hamlets.
Note: In an article of 1902/Dec. – Max Manthy, Town of Lisbon Supervisor, dies after jumping from a second story porch to escape his general store/post office disastrous fire. It mentions the [George] Sykes’s Hotel where patrons sitting in the barroom heard the fire commotion.
In the 1900 Federal Census – William Henshel was living in the Colgate area of the town of Lisbon and his occupation was saloon keeper. His father August was a bartender.