Lafayette is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in the center of Deer Creek Township, Madison County,

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, United States. It is located along

U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...

, just west of its intersection with

U.S. Route 42 U.S. Route 42 (US 42) is an east–west United States highway that runs southwest–northeast for from Louisville, Kentucky to Cleveland, Ohio. The route has several names including Pearl Road from Cleveland to Medina in Northeast Ohio, Readi ...

.Rand McNally, ''The Road Atlas'', Chicago, Rand McNally, 2006, p.80 The population of Lafayette was 206 at the 2020 census.

History

Lawrenceville

Lawrenceville (also known regionally as "Limerick") was laid out in 1816 by Thomas Gwynne, on land he owned northwest of where Lafayette is located today.Bryan, Chester E.,
History of Madison County, Ohio
', B.F. Bowen & Company, Inc.,

Indianapolis, Indiana 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 ...

, 1915, Pg. 178. In 1816, Angus Ross opened Lawrenceville's first and only tavern. The Lawrenceville post office was established on July 2, 1825. In 1836-7, the

National Road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...

was completed through the township, missing Lawrenceville, and the town immediately began to die. By 1915, the original community was nothing more than

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

land, with no signs left to indicate there was ever a community.

Lafayette

Lafayette was laid out on October 1, 1834, by William Minter, and named in honor of

Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (), was a French military officer and politician who volunteered to join the Conti ...

. On December 31, 1836, the Lawrenceville post office was moved to Lafayette and took the new settlement's name, with John Minter as the first postmaster. As of 1875, the community contained one drug store, one dry goods and grocery store, and one

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop.J. A. Caldwell,
Caldwell's Atlas of Madison County, Ohio
', Condit, Ohio, 1875, Pg. 10. The post office was discontinued on December 31, 1905, with mail service going through the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

branch. As of 1915, the community contained three general stores and one blacksmith shop. Lafayette is home to the Red Brick Tavern, one of 11 properties on the

National Register of Historic Places listings in Madison County, Ohio This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Madison County, Ohio. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Madison County, Ohio, Madison Co ...

Geography

Lafayette is in central Madison County, northeast of

, 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 ...

, and west of the center of Columbus, the state capital. U.S. Route 40, the former National Road, runs through the center of Lafayette, leading east to Columbus and west the same distance to Springfield. U.S. Route 42 runs along the southeast edge of Lafayette, leading southwest to London and northeast to Plain City. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the Lafayette CDP has an area of , all land. Deer Creek, a southeast-flowing tributary of the

Scioto River The Scioto River ( ) is a river in central and southern Ohio more than in length. It rises in Hardin County, Ohio, Hardin County just north of Roundhead, Ohio, flows through Columbus, Ohio, where it collects its largest tributary, the Olent ...

, runs along the western edge of the community.

Demographics

The population of Lafayette was 160 in 1875 and 75 in 1915. At the 2010 U.S. Census it was 202.

References

{{Authority control Census-designated places in Madison County, Ohio Census-designated places in Ohio