In June 1879, the town of Colton was surveyed and platted on the 480-acre farm of Gregor Kosher.

The town took its name from the first three letters of Cole, and the last three from Clinton, a son of Mr. Wolford, whose family was the first to live in Colton.

On October 10, 1879, John Standley was appointed postmaster and opened a post office in his own store.

During the summer of 1880, a petition was granted by the county government at Asotin to separate Colton from the school district of Uniontown.

Colton was a filming location for country artist Kenny Chesney in his 1995 hit song Me and You.

Colton is located along U.S. Route 195 in the Palouse region of southeastern Washington, just west of the Idaho border.

[6] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.59 square miles (1.53 km2), all of it land.

[7] Distances This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F.

The racial makeup of the town was 97.41% White, 1.04% Native American, 0.78% Asian, and 0.78% from two or more races.