Lafayette, Colorado
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Lafayette is a city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The population was 25,798 as of a census estimate in 2005.[1]
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[edit] Geography
Lafayette is located at (39.995078, −105.100527)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 23.1 km² (8.9 mi²). 22.9 km² (8.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.67%) is water.
[edit] History
Lafayette was founded in 1888 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. Mary Miller moved back to the farm with their six small children. In 1884 coal was discovered in the Miller farm. In 1887 John Simpson sank the first shaft which began the coal mining era. In 1888 Mary Miller designated 150 acres of the farm for the town of Lafayette which she named after her late husband. In July of 1888 a second mine, the Cannon went into operation and the first houses were built. In 1889 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.[2][3]
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 of 1900 when the town burned. She founded what would become the Lafayette Bank in 1990. 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 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 1910's, which was nationally recognized as a great Wobbly (Industrial Workers of the World; a radical labor group) strike; noted for the Ludlow Massacre of miner's families by the national guard in the Southern Coal Field near Trinidad, CO.
In 1927, Lafayette's coal miners struck again. This time, the mining massacre was closer to home, resulting in the deaths of 5 Lafayette resident miners just northeast of town at the Columbine Mine Massacre on November 27, 1927, in what is now the ghost town of Serene, CO near Erie, CO.
Strangely, it was another female financier who came to the miners' aid again - Ms. Josephine Roche, the daughter of the anti-labor deceased owner of the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company that owned many of the mines in the Lafayette area, used some shares of the company she had inherited from her father and 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 returned to an agricultural economy. As Denver, CO and Boulder, CO grew residential growth in Lafayette increased. With the increase in residential growth the farm based economy changed commercial, small industrial and manufacturing.
Today, Lafayette is a thriving community, with the cultural and commercial center still being 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 Company , a Peach Festival, a Wine Festival, and Lafayette Days.
The main public high school in Lafayette is Centaurus High School , with approximately 1000 students. The recently opened Peak-to-Peak Charter school takes students from Kindergarten to High School Graduation. The public middle school is Angevine Middle School, and 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 a day. Alexander Dawson School is a K-12 college prep school on the north end of town. Lafayette is part of the Boulder Valley School District.
The mayor of Lafayette is Chris Berry, and the Mayor Pro-Tem is David Strungis.
On Feburary 12, 2007, associate Municipal Judge Roger Buchholz resigned in protest over increased penalties for marijuana possession in the city. His backup, Boulder criminal-defense lawyer Leonard Frieling, also annouced he was resigning. In Frieling's resignation letter to the city, he said "I cannot in good conscience sit on the bench while being unwilling to enforce the municipal ordinances," adding "[s]pecifically, since you have seen fit to increase the penalty for cannabis possession from a $100 fine (which matches the state penalty) to a $1,000 fine and a year in jail, I find that I am morally and ethically unable to sit as a judge for the city."[4] The city later announced that "Ordinance No. 06, 2007, which amended Section 75-41 and 75-42 of Lafayette’s Municipal Code regarding the maximum penalties for possession of cannabis (marijuana), [had] been withdrawn" and "will be the subject of a Council Workshop Meeting on April 3."[5]
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 23,197 people, 8,844 households, and 5,952 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,012.0/km² (2,620.9/mi²). There were 9,115 housing units at an average density of 397.7/km² (1,029.9/mi²). 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 out of which 37.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.4% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% were non-families. 22.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the 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.
[edit] References
- ^ Community Profile. City of Lafayette. Retrieved on November 16, 2006.
- ^ History of Lafayette. City of Lafayette. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
- ^ Mary Miller. City of Lafayette. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
- ^ Schmidt, Eric. "Lafayette judge steps down: Frieling won't enforce new marijuana law", Daily Camera, 2007-02-13. Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
- ^ City Withdraws Ordinance. City of Lafayette. Retrieved on Feburary 19, 2007.
[edit] External links
- City of Lafayette (official website)
- Lafayette News (Lafayette's Weekly Newspaper)
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
