[4] Andy Coolin opened a post office at the southern end of Priest Lake in 1893, thereby giving his name to the nascent community.

Coolin formed the Priest Lake Town Site and Improvement Company with his brother and other local investors in 1907.

By that time Spokane businessman Joseph Slee already operated a steamboat out of Coolin connecting the lake with supplies, mail, and transportation.

When mining riches failed to pan out and Andy Coolin's efforts to lure the railway to Priest Lake came to naught, the village of Coolin became a center for summer vacationers and services, including a sawmill, store, hotel, ranger station, docks, and steamboat service.

Today the Old Northern Inn, the Leonard Paul Store, and the one room schoolhouse, built in 1916 and now the Coolin Civic Association, remain as landmarks from those early days.