Historical insights and discoveries for Lafayette, Colorado.
The Lafayette Public Library’s history and origin traces back to town founder Mary Miller, who established a reading room in Lafayette sometime between 1888 and 1891. The town’s public library — a place where anyone could take a book off the shelf and read it at home, then bring it back — started in Lafayette in 1923.
Continue reading “Lafayette Public Library history rooted in 1890s public reading rooms”
An interesting and unique Old Town neighborhood is Lafayette Heights, located west of Public Road and south of Kimbark Street. The neighborhood was established in 1954 and is Lafayette’s first subdivision containing mass-produced homes.
Continue reading “National Homes structures in Lafayette Heights a collection of hidden gems”
The local Colorado and Southern (C & S) train depot was a beehive of activity in the 1920s, as hundreds of daily commuters hopped on the “Jerkwater Train” to make their connection to trollies headed to Denver.
Continue reading “The Jerkwater Train and Lafayette’s First Black Residents”
The circa 1910 photo above shows the front porch of the old town hall at the northeast corner of East Simpson Street and Harrison Avenue, which currently houses the East Simpson Coffee Company. The first man standing (from the left) is Swan Edison, one of the most prominent and dedicated civil servants in Lafayette’s history. More about him in a bit. The man with the mustache to right of Edison is (likely) Alfred “Pete” Peterson, known as Petey the Iceman.
Continue reading “Notable Citizens: Swan Edison, Lafayette’s Toughest Mayor”
The dominant housing style in Old Town Lafayette is called a Miner’s Cottage, a simple, one-story, non-ornamental structure exemplified by the small footprint and a pyramid roof. Some do have side gables, but the style is generally one-story with less than 700 square feet and is considered a Vernacular style of architecture — a structure built without the aid of an architect or designer.