Lafayette ( ) is a city in and is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

and southeast of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. According to the 2020 census, the population of Lafayette was 70,783.

West Lafayette West Lafayette ( ) is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Wabash and Tippecanoe Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Tippecanoe Townships, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, approximately northwest of the state capit ...

, on the other side of the

Wabash River The Wabash River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana, and a significant part of Illinois, in the United ...

, is home to

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, which contributes significantly to both communities. Together, they form the core of the Lafayette metropolitan area, which had a population of 235,066 in 2020. Lafayette was founded in 1825 on the southeast bank of the Wabash River near where the river becomes impassable for riverboats upstream, though a French fort and trading post had existed since 1717 on the opposite bank and three miles downstream. It was named for the French general Marquis de Lafayette, a Revolutionary War hero.

History

When European explorers arrived at this area, it was inhabited by a tribe of

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Native Americans known as the Ouiatenon or Weas. In 1717, the French government established Fort Ouiatenon across the

and south of present-day Lafayette. The fort became the center of trade for fur trappers, merchants and Indians. An annual reenactment and festival known as Feast of the Hunters' Moon is held there each autumn. The town of Lafayette was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted in May 1825 by William Digby, a trader. It was designated as the county seat of the newly formed Tippecanoe County the following year. Like many frontier towns, Lafayette was named for General Lafayette, a French officer who significantly aided

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. Lafayette toured the United States in 1824 and 1825. In its earliest days, Lafayette was a shipping center on the Wabash River. In 1838, Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, the first United States Patent Commissioner, published a booklet titled ''Valley of the Upper Wabash, Indiana, with Hints on Its Agricultural Advantages,'' to promote settlement of the region. By 1845, Ellsworth had purchased of farmland around Lafayette and moved there from

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

to supervise land sales. By 1847 Ellsworth was distributing broadsides looking for farmers to purchase his farmland. He became president of the Tippecanoe County Agricultural Society in April 1851 – despite some local resentment over what was called "the Yale Crowd" – but he was defeated the same year when he ran for the

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House mem ...

. Ellsworth Street and Ellsworth Historic District are named for him. The Wabash and Erie Canal in the 1840s stimulated trade and affirmed Lafayette's regional prominence.

Railroads Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

arrived in the town in the 1850s, connecting it with other major markets. The

Monon Railroad The Monon Railroad , also known as the Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville Railway from 1897 to 1971, was an American railroad that operated almost entirely within the state of Indiana. The Monon was merged into the Louisville and Nashville R ...

connected Lafayette with other sections of Indiana. Lafayette was the site of the first official airmail delivery in the United States on 17 August 1859, when John Wise piloted a balloon starting on the Lafayette courthouse grounds. Wise hoped to reach New York; however, weather conditions forced the balloon down near

Crawfordsville, Indiana Crawfordsville () is a city in Montgomery County, Indiana, Montgomery County in west central Indiana, United States, west by northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,306. The c ...

, and the mail reached its final destination by train. In 1959, the US Postal Service issued a 7¢ airmail stamp commemorating the centennial of the event.

Geography

Lafayette is located in Fairfield and Wea Townships. According to the 2010 census, Lafayette has a total area of , all land.

Neighborhoods

Neighborhoods include: * 9th Street Hill * Centennial * Columbian Park *

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

* Ellsworth Romig * Glen Acres * Hanna * Hedgewood * Highland Park * Jefferson * Jesco Hills Estates * Lincoln * Linnwood * Monon * Orchard Heights * Perrin * Potter Hollow * St. Lawrence-McAllister * St. Mary's * Valley Center * Vinton Highlands * Vinton * Wabash * Wallace Triangle Historic neighborhoods include Ninth Street Hill Neighborhood Historic District and Upper Main Street Historic District.

Climate

In recent years, temperatures in Lafayette have ranged from an average low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1985 and again in January 1994; and a record high of was recorded in June 1988. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in June.

Demographics

Lafayette is the larger principal city of the Lafayette-Frankfort CSA, a Combined Statistical Area that includes the Lafayette metropolitan area ( Benton, Carroll, and Tippecanoe counties) and the Frankfort micropolitan area ( Clinton County), which had a combined population of 212,408 at the 2000 United States Census.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 67,140 people, 28,545 households, and 15,863 families in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 31,260 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 74.2%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 11.2%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.4% Native American, 1% Asian, 0.0% from other races, and 2.7% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 16.3% of the population. There were 28,545 households, of which 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 44.4% were non-families. 34.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age in the city was 31.9 years. 23.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 12.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29.9% were from 25 to 44; 22.2% were from 45 to 64, and 11.3% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.7% male and 51.3% female.

2000 census

As of the 2000 United States Census, there were 56,397 people, 24,060 households, and 13,666 families in the city. The population density was . There were 25,602 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 88.91%

; 3.22%

; 0.37% Native American; 1.22% Asian; 0.04%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

; 4.61% from other races, and 1.62% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 9.11% of the population. There were 24,060 households, out of which 27.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them; 42.5% were

living together; 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present; and 43.2% were non-families. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 individuals and the average family size was 2.98. The city population contained 23.2% under the age of 18; 14.2% from 18 to 24; 31.3% from 25 to 44; 19.3% from 45 to 64; and 12.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.3 males. The median income for a household in the city was $35,859, and the median income for a family was $45,480. Males had a median income of $32,892 versus $23,049 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $19,217. About 8.0% of families and 12.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 15.8% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Companies located in Lafayette include: * Wabash National, world's largest manufacturer of semi-truck trailers * Subaru of Indiana Automotive, the only non-

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese producer of

Subaru is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first largest aut ...

vehicles. * Evonik (Tippecanoe Laboratories) pharmaceuticals/chemicals * Primient, corn wet mill and refinery producing corn syrup * Landis+Gyr, manufacturer of electric meters for global ANSI markets * Caterpillar, Large Engine Center

Arts and culture

Festivals

* A Taste of Tippecanoe

Public library

The Lafayette area has four branch locations of the Tippecanoe County Public Library: * Downtown Library * Wyandotte Branch *

Klondike Branch * Wea Prairie Branch

Points of interest

* Haan Mansion Museum of Indiana Art

Notable buildings

* Judge Cyrus Ball House, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

* James H. Ward House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places * Temple Israel, 17 South 7th St. - one of the nation's oldest surviving synagogue buildings. * Trinity United Methodist Church (Trinity

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

until 1969) – the first church congregation in the Lafayette area. Its current building was erected in 1869 by William Heath and has remained intact to this day. * Tippecanoe Mall - the city's main shopping center. * Tippecanoe County Courthouse - built 1882–1884 at a cost of around $500,000 (double the original estimate).

Government

The government consists of a mayor – elected in a citywide vote – and a city council of nine members. Six are elected from individual districts; three are elected at-large.

Education

Colleges

* Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana * A location of the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, one of Purdue University's academic colleges

Public school

K-12 public education in the majority of the Lafayette city limits is provided by the Lafayette School Corporation, which operates Jefferson High School and other schools. The Tippecanoe School Corporation covers some outerlying portions of the Lafayette city limits;
Text list
/ref> its schools are nearby. The Tippecanoe district operates McCutcheon High School and William Henry Harrison High School, which cover these outerlying parts. New Community School was a tuition-free elementary

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

(sponsored by

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The university has three off-campus centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Fishers, Indiana. The university is composed of seven aca ...

) located on the north side of Lafayette; it closed in 2016. Beacon Academy was a charter school operated by the Lafayette School Corporation in West Lafayette; it closed in 2018.

Private

Elementary * Lafayette Christian School * St. Boniface Elementary * St. Lawrence Elementary * St. Mary Cathedral Elementary * St. James Lutheran Elementary/Middle School Middle School * St. Boniface Middle School Junior/High School * Catholic Central Junior-Senior High School K-12 * Faith Christian School

Media

Newspapers

* '' Journal & Courier''. The newspaper, which serves the Greater Lafayette area, has its newsroom and offices located in downtown Lafayette. Journal & Courier also has its own printing services for itself and other papers in the region on the eastside of Lafayette. * '' Purdue Exponent''. Purdue University's independent student newspaper serves Purdue, West Lafayette, and Lafayette, and has its newsroom and offices located off campus on Northwestern Avenue in West Lafayette. * ''The Lafayette Leader''

Television

WPBI-LD WPBI-LD (channel 16) is a Low-power broadcasting, low-power television station in Lafayette, Indiana, United States, affiliated with Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox and NBC. It is owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company Limited liability ...

16 ( Fox; NBC on LD2; ABC on LD3) * WLFI-TV 18 ( CBS; CW on DT2; ION on DT3;

GetTV Get (Great Entertainment Television, stylized as get. since 2023, and formerly stylized as getTV) is an American Digital subchannel#Commercial networks, digital multicast television network owned by the Sony Pictures Television#Sony Pictures Tel ...

on DT4;

Start TV Start TV is an American free-to-air television network owned as a joint venture between Weigel Broadcasting and the CBS News and Stations subsidiary of Paramount Global. Predominantly carried on the digital subchannels of its affiliated tele ...

on DT5) *

WPBY-LD WPBY-LD (channel 35) is a Low-power broadcasting, low-power television station in Lafayette, Indiana, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company Limited liability com ...

35 ( ABC;

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television progra ...

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...

on LD2) From 1953 until the 2016 launch of

, WLFI-TV had been the only "Big Three" ( ABC, CBS and NBC—or, including Fox, "big four") commercial network television broadcaster in the Lafayette market. With the 2017 launch of

, local broadcasts of all "big four" networks became available. Lafayette also remains one of few television markets without its own PBS station, the market being served by WFYI in

WRTV WRTV (channel 6) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Meridian Street (Indianapolis), Mer ...

, WTHR, WTTV, and WXIN, the respective ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox affiliates in Indianapolis which had been carried by cable and satellite providers in the Lafayette market as "out-of-market" stations, remain viewable in the area via a large over-the-air antenna or, in some cases, via a subscription satellite or streaming service. Cable provider Comcast Xfinity discontinued its remaining carriage of Indianapolis-based "big four" stations on March 7, 2018, but resumed carriage of WTHR and WRTV two days later.

Radio

Commercial

* WASK * WASK-FM * WAZY-FM * WKHY-FM * WKOA-FM * WLQQ * WBPE * WSHY-AM * WXXB-FM * WYCM

Non-commercial

* WBAA (AM) * WBAA-FM * WHPL-FM * WJEF-FM * WQSG-FM * WTGO-LP FM * WWCC-LP FM

Infrastructure

Transportation

Airport

No airports are located within Lafayette city limits. The nearest commercial airport which currently has scheduled airline service is the Purdue University Airport (LAF) in West Lafayette.

Highways

Interstate 65 to

Gary, Indiana Gary ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 69,093 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it Indiana's List of municipalities in Indiana, eleventh-most populous city. The city has been historical ...

(near

) and Indianapolis * US 52

US 52 U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States Numbered Highway System, U.S. Highway in the central United States, Central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even ...

Joliet, Illinois Joliet ( ) is a city in Will County, Illinois, Will and Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County, Illinois, Will County. It had a population of ...

(also near Chicago) and Indianapolis * US 231

US 231 to

Rensselaer, Indiana Rensselaer is a city located along the Iroquois River (Indiana-Illinois), Iroquois River in Marion Township, Jasper County, Indiana, Marion Township, Jasper County, Indiana, Jasper County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,733 at the 2 ...

and

Owensboro, Kentucky Owensboro is a Home rule in the United States, home rule-class city in Daviess County, Kentucky, United States, of which it is also the county seat. It is the List of cities in Kentucky, fourth-most populous city in the state. Owensboro is loca ...

State Road 25 * Indiana 26

State Road 26 * Indiana 38

State Road 38

Railroads

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

, the national passenger rail system, provides passenger rail service to Lafayette through the ''

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

'' to

, Washington D.C., and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

;

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

; Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad; and Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway ( RailAmerica) provide freight rail service. Many lines that originally passed through the downtown were redirected in the mid-1990s to a rail corridor near the Wabash River.

Buses and shuttles

* CityBus local bus service by the Greater Lafayette Public Transportation Corporation *

Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a dog breed, breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Some are kept as show dogs or pets. Greyhounds are defined as a tall, muscular, smooth-c ...

intercity bus service * Flixbus stops here between Chicago and Indianapolis / Bloomington * Lafayette Limo and Reindeer Shuttle to

Indianapolis International Airport Indianapolis International Airport is an international airport located southwest of Downtown Indianapolis in Marion County, Indiana, United States. It is owned and operated by the Indianapolis Airport Authority, and the airport serves over 5 ...

and

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport is the primary international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, United States, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, Loop business district. The airport is ope ...

* Express Air Coach to O'Hare International Airport

Notable people

For notable people associated with

, see List of Purdue University people.

Entertainment

Karen Black Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portr ...

– actress, attended Lafayette Jefferson High School *

Jeremy Camp Jeremy Thomas Camp (born January 12, 1978) is an American Contemporary Christian music, contemporary Christian singer and songwriter from Lafayette, Indiana. He has released eleven albums, four of them RIAA certification, RIAA-certified as Music ...

– Christian recording artist * Eric Carlson - lead guitarist, songwriter, founding member of The Mentors * Embeth Davidtz – film and television actress * Louise Fazenda – film actor whose career spanned silent and talking movies * Circuit Des Yeux - musician * Charles Foley – co-inventor of the game

Twister Twister most commonly refers to a tornado. Twister or Twisters may also refer to: Aviation * Pipistrel Twister, a Slovenian ultralight trike * Silence Twister, a German homebuilt aircraft design * Wings of Change Twister, an Austrian paragli ...

* Mass Giorgini – musician and record producer * Troy Hickman – writer best known for his comic book work ('' Common Grounds'', ''Twilight Guardian'', ''

City of Heroes ''City of Heroes'' (''CoH'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game originally created by Cryptic Studios prior to the IP’s acquisition by NCSoft. Previously developed by the now-defunct Paragon Studios, it is currently developed ...

'', ''

Witchblade ''Witchblade'' is an American comic book Ongoing series, series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint (trade name), imprint of Image Comics, which ran from November 1995 to October 2015. The series was created by Top Cow founder and owne ...

'', ''Turok'') * Shannon Hoon – former lead vocalist of rock band

Blind Melon Blind Melon is an American rock band formed in 1990 in Los Angeles, California. The band consists of guitarists Rogers Stevens and Christopher Thorn, drummer Glen Graham, vocalist Travis Warren and bassist Nathan Towne. They are best known ...

* John Korty – director, screenwriter, known for '' The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman'' and documentary '' Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?'' * Claudia Lee – television actress, '' Hart of Dixie'' * Jason Marnocha – voice actor * Curt McDowell - director, writer, actor, artist * Larry McNeely – musician, banjo player with Glen Campbell and for film soundtracks * Tammy Lynn Michaels – television actor * Ken Navarro – smooth jazz guitarist * Chubby Parker – country music radio personality and recording artist * Sydney Pollack – film actor, director, and producer * Victor Potel – silent film actor *

Axl Rose W. Axl Rose ( ; born William Bruce Rose Jr., February 6, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its inception in ...

– co-founder and lead vocalist of rock band

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

* Julia Scheeres – author, best known for ALA Alex Award-winning memoir ''Jesus Land'' *

Izzy Stradlin Jeffrey Dean Isbell (born April 8, 1962), known professionally as Izzy Stradlin, is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and backing vocalist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he re ...

– songwriter, co-founder and former rhythm guitarist of rock band Guns N' Roses * Henry Stram - actor

Sports

* William Fritz Afflis known professionally as "Dick the Bruiser" – professional football player and wrestler; graduated from Lafayette Jefferson HS * Eric Bruntlett – professional baseball player * Clem Crowe – professional football and basketball player * Todd Dunwoody – professional baseball player * Ray Ewry – 10-time Olympic champion in track and field * Bernard "Bernie" Flowers – college and professional football player; born in Cleveland area, lived in Lafayette * Bob Friend – professional baseball player * Dustin Keller – professional football player; graduated from Lafayette Jefferson HS * Pete Halsmer – professional race car driver * Charles Kirkpatrick – professional race car driver * Josh Lindblom – professional baseball player * Chukie Nwokorie – professional football player; graduated from Lafayette Jefferson HS * Clayton Richard – professional baseball player; graduated from McCutcheon HS * Erik Sabel – professional baseball player * Justin Smith – football player * George Souders – professional race car driver (1927)

Business, law, politics

* Roger D. Branigin – Governor of Indiana 1965–1969 * John Burger – member of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the U.S. state of Minnesota's Minnesota Legislature, legislature. It operates in conjunction with the Minnesota Senate, the state's upper chamber, to write and pass legislation, whic ...

* Steve Carter – Indiana Attorney General * Henry Leavitt Ellsworth – first Commissioner of the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency in the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark ...

; real estate developer * Henry W. Ellsworth – son of Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, attorney, poet, author and Minister to Sweden * David W. Evans – US Representative, 6th Congressional District Indiana 1975–1983 * Dan Flanagan – Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court * Lucinda Florio (1947–2022), teacher and advocate for education and literacy, who, as the wife of former New Jersey Governor

James Florio James Joseph Florio (August 29, 1937 – September 25, 2022) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 49th governor of New Jersey from 1990 to 1994. He was previously the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 1st congressional dist ...

, served as the First Lady of New Jersey *

Clara Shortridge Foltz Clara Shortridge Foltz (July 16, 1849 – September 2, 1934) was an American lawyer, the first female lawyer on the West Coast, and the pioneer of the idea of the public defender. The Criminal Courts Building in downtown Los Angeles was renam ...

(1849–1934) – first female lawyer on the West Coast * Joseph García – Former Lt. Governor of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

* Herman Joseph Justin – founded Justin Boot Company * Brian Lamb – founder of C-SPAN * Bill Long – state representative * Frank Posegate – journalist, mayor of

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri, Buchanan County, Missouri, United States. A small portion of the city extends north into Andrew County, Missouri, Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the princ ...

John Purdue John Purdue (; October 31, 1802 – September 12, 1876) was a wealthy American industrialist in Lafayette, Indiana, and the primary original benefactor of Purdue University. Early life Most details of Purdue's early life were either not record ...

– Purdue Block, Tippecanoe County founder, founding benefactor of

* Barbara Ringer – first female register of copyrights * Alvah Curtis Roebuck – founded

Sears, Roebuck and Company Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

Neal Mohan Neal Mohan (born July 14, 1973) is an American businessman who has served as the chief executive officer of the social media and online video sharing platform YouTube since 2023, succeeding Susan Wojcicki. Mohan was born in Lafayette, Indiana ...

– CEO of

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Academic, science, technology

* Eric J. Barron – 14th President of

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, 18th President of

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

* Herbert C. Brown –

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

laureate in chemistry * Christopher L. Eisgruber – 20th President of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

* Daniel X. Freedman – pioneer in

biological psychiatry Biological psychiatry or biopsychiatry is an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biology, biological function of the nervous system. It is interdisciplinary in its approach and draws on sciences such as ...

, discovered link of hallucinogens to brain transmitters * Kenneth E. Goodson –

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

* J. Andrew McCammon – physical and theoretical chemist * Donald E. Williams –

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

* Ian Murdock – software engineer, created

Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...

Other

* Emily Thornton Charles, poet, journalist * Benjaman Kyle, known for identity loss due to dissociative amnesia * Evaleen Stein (1863–1923), author, limner

Sister cities

Lafayette has two

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there ar ...

as designated by

Sister Cities International Sister Cities International (SCI) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the goal of facilitating partnerships between communities within the United States and other countries by establishing sister cities. Sister cities are agreements of ...

. * Longkou,

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

, China * Ōta, Gunma, Japan (October 1993)

References

External links

City of Lafayette, Indiana website

Lafayette Online
{{Authority control Cities in Indiana Populated places established in 1825 Cities in Tippecanoe County, Indiana County seats in Indiana Lafayette metropolitan area, Indiana 1825 establishments in Indiana Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette