Bolster, Washington

{{Short description|Ghost town in Washington (state)}}

{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}

{{Infobox settlement

|official_name = Bolster, Washington

|settlement_type = Ghost town

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|pushpin_map = Washington#USA

|pushpin_label = Bolster

|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name = United States

|subdivision_type1 = State

|subdivision_name1 = Washington

|subdivision_type2 = County

|subdivision_name2 = Okanogan

|established_title = Platted

|established_date = 1899

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|timezone = Pacific (PST)

|utc_offset = -8

|timezone_DST = PDT

|utc_offset_DST = -7

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|coordinates = {{coord|48|58|21|N|119|02|20|W|display=inline,title}}

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Bolster is a ghost town in Okanogan County, Washington, USA. In 1899, the town was plotted by J.S. McBride, who named it for the Spokane financier Herman Bolster.{{Cite book| last = Majors | first = Harry M. | title = Exploring Washington | publisher = Van Winkle Publishing Co | year = 1975 | page = 49 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CoWrPQAACAAJ| isbn = 978-0-918664-00-6}} He sold lots in the new town and at one time there were several stores, a post office and three saloons. The small town of some thirty families traded with Chesaw, each calling the other a 'suburb'. The town's newspaper, The Bolster Drill, could not make any money, and eventually went out of business. In 1909, the post office closed.{{cite web |url=http://www.u-s-history.com/wa/b/bolster.htm |title=Bolster, Washington (Ghost Towns) |website=www.u-s-history.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907031229/http://www.u-s-history.com/wa/b/bolster.htm |archive-date=2008-09-07}} There was a school in Bolster in 1910, but it was open for only that year.{{Cite book| last = Weis | first = Norman D. | title = Ghost Towns of the Northwest | publisher = Caxton Press | year = 1971 | isbn = 9780870043581}}