Lafayette

History

Lafayette was founded in 1888 by Mary E. Miller (née Foote). She filed the original Town of Lafayette plat in January 1888 and sold the first residential lot – Lot 6, Block G, Town of Lafayette – in March 1888 to Hugh Hughes. In February 1889, the Town of Lafayette was incorporated. Mary Miller and her husband, Lafayette Miller, had moved to the area to farm land they had purchased in March 1868 from Denver coal speculators Francis P. Heatly and Edward Chase. The farm also included land acquired by Mary's brother, James B. Foote, and father, John B. Foote, via the Homestead Act in 1871. In 1874 the Millers moved to Boulder. Lafayette Miller ran a butcher shop and was a town trustee. Lafayette Miller died in Boulder in 1878, after which Mary Miller moved back to the farm with their six small children. In 1884 coal was discovered on the Miller farm, and in 1887 John H. Simpson acquired a coal lease from James B. Foote and sank the first Simpson Mine shaft, thereby starting the coal mining era. In 1888 Mary Miller designated of the farm for the town of Lafayette, which she named after her late husband. In July 1888 a second mine, the Cannon, went into operation and the first houses were built. Mary Miller submitted a revised plat for the town in 1889. In 1904, the Lafayette Town Board mandated that the "alcohol clause" be added to all platted additions to Lafayette. Lafayette quickly became a part of the coal-mining boom that all of eastern Boulder and southwestern Weld counties were experiencing, with the combined Spencer/Simpson mine being the largest and most productive. The Cannon floundered and failed to produce profitable quantities of coal. It closed in 1898. The bank closed in 1914 because of roughly $90,000 in bad loans to the striking United Mine Workers.…

Geography

Lafayette is located in southeastern Boulder County. It is bordered by the town of Erie to the north and east, by the city of Broomfield to the east and south, and by Louisville to the southwest. U.S. Highway 287 is the main road through the city, leading north to Longmont and south to Broomfield and Denver. State Highway 7 leads east from Lafayette to Brighton and west to Boulder. Exit number 229 off of Interstate 25 provides access to the city. According to the United States Census Bureau, Lafayette has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.50%, is water.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Boulder High School
  High · BOULDER · 2,074 students · 20.3:1 ratio
• Fairview High School
  High · BOULDER · 1,880 students · 21.6:1 ratio
• Centaurus High School
  High · LAFAYETTE · 1,525 students · 18.8:1 ratio
• Monarch High School
  High · LOUISVILLE · 1,523 students · 20.9:1 ratio
• Peak to Peak Charter School
  Other · LAFAYETTE · 1,450 students · 19.3:1 ratio
• Niwot High School
  High · NIWOT · 1,355 students · 24.2:1 ratio
• Meadowlark School
  Elementary · ERIE · 725 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• Monarch K-8 School
  Elementary · LOUISVILLE · 715 students · 15.9:1 ratio