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Historic Preservation: Lafayette’s first jail still standing

A nondescript garage on the alley of 500 E. Cleveland St. is Lafayette’s first jail and town hall. The building, built about 1894, is 15-feet wide on the gable ends and is constructed of soft bricks that are now covered with stucco. It has a corrugated roof placed on top of cedar shingles. There are anti-splay bolts showing on the exterior near the eaves on the north and south side. Anti-splay bolts are common in brick buildings that are/were showing signs of instability.

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Correcting the Record: Let’s memorialize the correct Vulcan mine

An expensive bronze plaque that memorializes the Vulcan mine in Lafayette, Colo. is chock-full of errors.

In 2016, the Peaks at Old Laramie Trail Senior Living residence in Lafayette, Colo. placed a bronze interpretive sign commemorating the Vulcan mine on Coal Creek trail right-of-way about 1/2 mile west of S. Public Road. The plaque reads:

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Honoring veterans: Lafayette’s Blue Star Memorial Highway plaque

The 1998 Blue Star Memorial Highway plaque in Lafayette, Colorado.

The late Bill Kellett wrote in “History of Lafayette, Colorado: Treeless Plain to Thriving City,” published in 1990, that Lafayette sent more men and women to the services in WW II per capita than any other city in the country. There are two memorials to these brave young men and women, one in the Lafayette cemetery and one at the northeast corner of U.S. 287 and Baseline Road. The Blue Star Memorial Highway plaque, which recognizes veterans’ service and sacrifice, was placed in 1952 on a fireplace at a roadside rest stop and picnic area that occupied Colorado Highway Dept. (now CDOT) right-of-way. The blue star symbolizes hope and pride.

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