Lafayette, Colorado
Encyclopedia
The City of Lafayette is a Home Rule Municipality located in Boulder County
, Colorado
, United States
. The United States Census Bureau
estimates that the city population was 23,884 on 2005-07-01.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 9.3 square miles of which 8.9 square miles (23.1 km²) is land and 0.1 square mile (0.258998811 km²) (0.67%) is water.
Lafayette quickly became a part of the coal-mining boom that all of eastern Boulder and southwestern Weld counties were experiencing, with the Cannon and Simpson mines being the largest and most productive. By 1914 Lafayette was a booming town with two banks, four hotels, and a brickworks. Lafayette was also the location of a power station that served Louisville, Boulder, Longmont, and Fort Collins.
Mary Miller continued to be a leader in the community, especially in January 1900, when the town burned. She founded the Miller Bank in 1892, and it became the Lafayette Bank in 1902. She was elected president of the bank, and at that time was the only woman bank president in the world. The bank closed in 1914 because of roughly $90,000 in bad loans to the United Mine Workers. She remained devoted to the temperance movement and eventually ran for state treasurer on the Prohibition ticket. Miller died in 1921 at her daughter-in-law's home at 501 E. Cleveland St.
Lafayette continued to thrive as a coal-mining town. Many miners struck in the aforementioned strike in the 1910s, which was nationally recognized as a great Wobbly (Industrial Workers of the World
; a radical labor group) strike; noted for the Ludlow Massacre
of miners' families by the National Guard in the Southern Coal Field near Trinidad.
In 1927, Lafayette's coal miners struck again. This time, the mining massacre was closer to home, resulting in the deaths of five Lafayette resident miners just northeast of town in the Columbine Mine Massacre
on November 27, 1927, in what is now the ghost town of Serene near Erie.
Strangely, it was another female financier who came to the miners' aid - Ms. Josephine Roche
, the daughter of the anti-labor deceased owner of the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company
(RMFC) that owned many of the mines in the Lafayette area, used some shares of the company she had inherited from her father, bought a controlling interest in the company, and immediately began the most labor-friendly mine operation in the United States. She went on to be a top assistant to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins
. Back in Lafayette, life became much better for the coal miners with the more labor-friendly management of the RMFC.
Coal mining declined as an industry by the 1950s as natural gas replaced coal. The Black Diamond mine closed in 1956, and Lafayette became once more an agriculture-based community. As Denver, CO, and Boulder, CO, grew, residential growth in Lafayette increased. With the increase in residential growth, the farm-based economy changed and commercial, small industrial and manufacturing factors became more important.
, a peach festival, a wine festival, and Lafayette Days.
As of March, 2011, the mayor of Lafayette is Frank Phillips, and the mayor pro-tempore is Jay Ruggeri.
As an indication that the Lafayette economy is strengthening, 2010 saw several empty big box stores on South Boulder Road sign leases. Jax Sporting Goods moved into the old Ace hardware building on the corner of S. Boulder and Highway 287, next door Sunflower Market opened a new store where Albertsons was.
, which has approximately 1,000 students of diverse backgrounds, including Asians, Hispanics, African-Americans, and Caucasians. Peak to Peak Charter School
offers kindergarten through high school. The public middle school is Angevine Middle School. This middle school feeds into Centaurus and is also very diverse. The elementary schools are Lafayette, Alicia Sanchez, Bernard D. 'Pat' Ryan, and Pioneer Elementary, a bilingual school where English and Spanish are both spoken for half of each day. Alexander Dawson School is a private K-12 college prep school in the north part of town. Lafayette is part of the Boulder Valley School District.
of 2000, there were 23,197 people, 8,844 households, and 5,952 families residing in the city. The population density
was 2,620.9 people per square mile (1,012.0/km²). There were 9,115 housing units at an average density of 1,029.9 per square mile (397.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 85.53% White, 0.90% African American, 0.73% Native American, 3.32% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 6.82% from other races
, and 2.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 16.42% of the population.
There were 8,844 households, of which 37.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them; 52.4% were married couples
living together; 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present; and 32.7% were non-families. Of all households, 22.8% were made up of individuals, and 4.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. Average household size was 2.62, and average family size was 3.13.
In the city, the population was spread out with 27.5% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 38.3% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 5.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $56,376, and the median income for a family was $64,088. Males had a median income of $44,167 versus $31,381 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $27,780. About 5.2% of families and 7.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.1% of those under age 18 and 9.3% of those age 65 or over.
Boulder County, Colorado
Boulder County is the sixth most populous of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado of the United States. The county seat is Boulder. The most populous municipality in the county and the county seat is the City of Boulder...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
estimates that the city population was 23,884 on 2005-07-01.
Geography
Lafayette is located at 39°59′42"N 105°6′2"W (39.995, -105.100556).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 9.3 square miles of which 8.9 square miles (23.1 km²) is land and 0.1 square mile (0.258998811 km²) (0.67%) is water.
History
Lafayette was founded in 1878 by Mary Miller. She and her husband, Lafayette Miller, had moved to the area to farm land acquired 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 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 Simpson sank the first shaft, thereby starting the coal mining era. In 1888 Mary Miller designated 150 acre (0.607029 km²) 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. On January 6, 1890, the town of Lafayette was incorporated. As stipulated in the original town deeds, no alcohol was sold east of what is now known as Public Road.Lafayette quickly became a part of the coal-mining boom that all of eastern Boulder and southwestern Weld counties were experiencing, with the Cannon and Simpson mines being the largest and most productive. By 1914 Lafayette was a booming town with two banks, four hotels, and a brickworks. Lafayette was also the location of a power station that served Louisville, Boulder, Longmont, and Fort Collins.
Mary Miller continued to be a leader in the community, especially in January 1900, when the town burned. She founded the Miller Bank in 1892, and it became the Lafayette Bank in 1902. She was elected president of the bank, and at that time was the only woman bank president in the world. The bank closed in 1914 because of roughly $90,000 in bad loans to the United Mine Workers. She remained devoted to the temperance movement and eventually ran for state treasurer on the Prohibition ticket. Miller died in 1921 at her daughter-in-law's home at 501 E. Cleveland St.
Lafayette continued to thrive as a coal-mining town. Many miners struck in the aforementioned strike in the 1910s, which was nationally recognized as a great Wobbly (Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
; a radical labor group) strike; noted for the Ludlow Massacre
Ludlow massacre
The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado on April 20, 1914....
of miners' families by the National Guard in the Southern Coal Field near Trinidad.
In 1927, Lafayette's coal miners struck again. This time, the mining massacre was closer to home, resulting in the deaths of five Lafayette resident miners just northeast of town in the Columbine Mine Massacre
Columbine Mine massacre
The first Columbine Massacre, sometimes called the Columbine Mine massacre to distinguish it from the Columbine High School massacre, occurred in 1927, in the town of Serene, Colorado. A fight broke out between Colorado state police and a group of striking coal miners, during which the unarmed...
on November 27, 1927, in what is now the ghost town of Serene near Erie.
Strangely, it was another female financier who came to the miners' aid - Ms. Josephine Roche
Josephine Roche
Josephine Aspinwall Roche was a Colorado humanitarian, industrialist, activist, and politician. She was born in Neligh, Nebraska, and raised in Omaha, attending private girls' schools there before matriculating at Vassar College in 1904. There she double-majored in economics and classics, and...
, the daughter of the anti-labor deceased owner of the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company
Rocky Mountain Fuel Company
The Rocky Mountain Fuel Company was a coal mining company located in Colorado, operating mines in Louisville, Lafayette, and other locations north and west of Denver. The mine was founded by John J. Roche to supply coal to sugar beet factories. During the 1930s, the company was the...
(RMFC) that owned many of the mines in the Lafayette area, used some shares of the company she had inherited from her father, bought a controlling interest in the company, and immediately began the most labor-friendly mine operation in the United States. She went on to be a top assistant to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins , born Fannie Coralie Perkins, was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition...
. Back in Lafayette, life became much better for the coal miners with the more labor-friendly management of the RMFC.
Coal mining declined as an industry by the 1950s as natural gas replaced coal. The Black Diamond mine closed in 1956, and Lafayette became once more an agriculture-based community. As Denver, CO, and Boulder, CO, grew, residential growth in Lafayette increased. With the increase in residential growth, the farm-based economy changed and commercial, small industrial and manufacturing factors became more important.
Today
Today Lafayette is a thriving community with the cultural and commercial center still found in the revitalized Old Town District, especially along Public Road. The town hosts a variety of unique events each year, including an oatmeal festival in cooperation with the Quaker Oats CompanyQuaker Oats Company
The Quaker Oats Company is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago. It has been owned by Pepsico since 2001.-History:Quaker Oats was founded in 1901 by the merger of four oat mills:...
, a peach festival, a wine festival, and Lafayette Days.
As of March, 2011, the mayor of Lafayette is Frank Phillips, and the mayor pro-tempore is Jay Ruggeri.
As an indication that the Lafayette economy is strengthening, 2010 saw several empty big box stores on South Boulder Road sign leases. Jax Sporting Goods moved into the old Ace hardware building on the corner of S. Boulder and Highway 287, next door Sunflower Market opened a new store where Albertsons was.
Education
The main public high school in Lafayette is Centaurus High SchoolCentaurus High School
Centaurus High School is a secondary school located in Lafayette, Colorado, and part of the Boulder Valley School District....
, which has approximately 1,000 students of diverse backgrounds, including Asians, Hispanics, African-Americans, and Caucasians. Peak to Peak Charter School
Peak to Peak Charter School
Peak to Peak Charter School is a K-12 public college-preparatory charter school located in Lafayette, Colorado, and is part of the Boulder Valley School District ....
offers kindergarten through high school. The public middle school is Angevine Middle School. This middle school feeds into Centaurus and is also very diverse. The elementary schools are Lafayette, Alicia Sanchez, Bernard D. 'Pat' Ryan, and Pioneer Elementary, a bilingual school where English and Spanish are both spoken for half of each day. Alexander Dawson School is a private K-12 college prep school in the north part of town. Lafayette is part of the Boulder Valley School District.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 23,197 people, 8,844 households, and 5,952 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 2,620.9 people per square mile (1,012.0/km²). There were 9,115 housing units at an average density of 1,029.9 per square mile (397.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 85.53% White, 0.90% African American, 0.73% Native American, 3.32% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 6.82% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 2.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 16.42% of the population.
There were 8,844 households, of which 37.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them; 52.4% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together; 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present; and 32.7% were non-families. Of all households, 22.8% were made up of individuals, and 4.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. Average household size was 2.62, and average family size was 3.13.
In the city, the population was spread out with 27.5% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 38.3% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 5.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $56,376, and the median income for a family was $64,088. Males had a median income of $44,167 versus $31,381 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $27,780. About 5.2% of families and 7.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.1% of those under age 18 and 9.3% of those age 65 or over.
Notable natives and residents
- Phil Bascom, bronze sculptor
- Lars GrimsrudLars GrimsrudLars Grimsrud is an aerospace engineer and performance automobile enthusiast who has become a celebrity amongst owners of carbureted Chevrolet Corvettes and GM muscle cars for his skill at tuning their engines....
, aerospace engineer and performance automobile enthusiast
See also
- Boulder Metropolitan Statistical Area
- Colorado municipalitiesColorado municipalitiesThe U.S. state of Colorado currently has 271 active incorporated municipalities, including 196 towns, 73 cities, and two consolidated city and county governments.-Municipal government:...
- Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical AreaDenver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Areathumb|300px|Map of the 12-county Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical AreaThe Denver-Aurora-Boulder, CO Combined Statistical Area is a United States Census Bureau defined Combined Statistical Area located in the Denver region of the state of Colorado...
- Front Range Urban CorridorFront Range Urban CorridorThe Front Range Urban Corridor is an oblong region of urban population located along the eastern face of the Southern Rocky Mountains in the U.S. states of Colorado and Wyoming. The corridor derives its name from the Front Range, the mountain range that defines the west central boundary of the...
- Northwest ParkwayNorthwest ParkwayThe Northwest Parkway is an toll road running from the intersection of I-25 and E-470 to US 36 at 96th Street. Both termini are in Broomfield, Colorado, northwest of Denver. In combination with E-470 and SH 470 , the Northwest Parkway forms a partial beltway of approximately around the...
External links
- City of Lafayette website
- Lafayette News (Lafayette's Weekly Newspaper)