My wife and I were attempting to
place this cache in the Edgar County Cemetery but permission at
this site was more difficult to get than I thought. Since we
thought it was worthy, we decided to place it somewhere
else.
This cache is named after Usher O. and Ada G. Colson. The cache
location is very near the Colson family Home (The house closest to
the cache on the same side of the road). The Colson's were a
familiar name in the Paris area and have been for the past 100
years or so. U.O. started the U.O. Colson Company in 1892.
Originally a printing company, it grew into a manufacturer of
advertising items sold nationwide. Its calendars and paper fans can
often be found on ebay. A large two-story brick building built on
North Main Street in 1926 served as the company’s home. But it's
first home can be found on the West side of the square across from
the Jail.
Colson's had 18 district sales offices and 250 salespersons
across the country in 1955. The Colson family sold the business in
1967; it went through several ownership changes until it ceased
operation in 1992 when it was strictly a Calendar Printing
advertiser. Also known as OKT/Colson when OKT industries bought it
and during this time the company imprinted advertising reminders on
just about anything. After that UMC Industries bought it and it
became UMC Colson, Later it was bought by a private individual and
was named simply The Colson Company until it closed on it's 100th
anniversary year. The Colson Family was known for their generosity
and were well loved by the folks in Paris. They used to have boats
tied up at the lake for their employees to use whenever they liked
and gave much else as well. They cared for the youth of Edgar
County and setup the U.O. and Ada G. Colson Foundation, a
non-profit organization, to give money to youth Organizations and
other non-profit charitable organizations in the Paris area. This
Foundation still exists today and I serve as it's current
president. I was fortunate to have worked for The Colson
Company for 5 years until it closed and have several other family
members that were supported by it's business.
Be sure to visit the Edgar Cemetery and pay
Homage to Usher, Ada, and their Son U. Rae all buried just West of
the main Entrance.
You are looking for a small match container at
the cache location. You will have to be sneaky during certain
times of the day but for the most part, it should be a quick
grab. There is not a lot of parking on the side road so you
might have to park on an adjacent street and walk there. I am
sorry that this is in a higher traffic area. I always hate
those kind of locations but I could not find a location closer to a
Colson landmark without permision.