Originally named Buffum Mills, Colden took its present name after the post office was moved to the Buffum Inn in 1833. Richard Buffum, the town's first settler in 1810, built the Buffum Inn in 1828; it also housed a post office and served as a place for many community meetings. Across the road stands the Union Church, built in 1859 and becoming a Methodist Church in 1938. On Rt. 240, the Colden Hotel was built in 1850 by John Hedges, and a nearby building that began as a sporting goods store became the Valley Ski Haus in 1959, starting with only 10 pairs of wooden Northland skis and later becoming the first shop in western New York to stock cross-country ski equipment; it also housed a delicatessen and barber shop. Cazenovia Creek, with its elevation and water power for grist and saw mills, played an important role in establishing the settlement. Richard Buffum built the first grist mill in 1814 and named the area Buffum Mills, and a saw mill was later built near the present building at Heath Rd. and Rt. 240. About two miles south, the hamlet of Glenwood formed around 1835 after Samuel B. Love and Benjamin Maltby of Colden and Stephen Osborn of Newstead purchased land from the Holland Land Company. Maltby built a saw mill, sold land to settlers, and by 1840 the hamlet had developed small businesses including a tannery, a store, and a post office, with Benjamin Maltby serving as the first postmaster. The church on the corner of Mill Street and Rt. 240 was formed in 1829 as a Congregational Society, rebuilt after a fire in 1860, and adopted as a Presbyterian Church in 1878. Colden residents have served in American conflicts from the Revolution to the present time.