Lafayette (pronounced
/ˌlɑːfijˈɛt/) is a city in
Tippecanoe County,
Indiana,
U.S., 63 miles (101&_160;km) northwest of
Indianapolis. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,397. The city is the
county seat of
Tippecanoe County[4].
West Lafayette, on the other side of the
Wabash River, is home to
Purdue University, which has a large impact on both communities. Together, Lafayette and West Lafayette form the core of the Lafayette, IN
Metropolitan Statistical Area, which, as of the 2000 census, had a total population of 183,340, the
215th largest metropolitan area in the
United States.
The area around what is now Tippecanoe County was inhabited by a tribe of Miami Indians known as the Ouiatenon or Weas. The French government established Fort Ouiatenon in 1717 across the Wabash River and three miles (5&_160;km) south of the location of present-day Lafayette. The fort became the center of trade for fur trappers, merchants and Indians. An annual reenactment and festival known as The Feast of the Hunters' Moon takes place there each fall. [5]
Lafayette was platted by the river trader William Digby, in May 1825. The town was made county seat for the newly formed Tippecanoe County soon after in 1826. Like many small frontier towns, Lafayette was officially named for General Lafayette, a French military hero who fought with and significantly aided the American Army during the American Revolutionary War (September 6, 1757—May 20, 1834). Lafayette famously toured the United States during 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 called Valley of the Upper Wabash, Indiana, with Hints on Its Agricultural Advantages to promote settlement of the region. By 1845 Ellsworth had purchased 93,000 acres of farmland in Lafayette and the region and had moved from Connecticut to oversee land sales.[6] By 1847 Ellsworth was distributing broadsides looking for farmers to purchase his farmland.[7] He became president of the Tippecanoe County Agricultural Society in April 1851, despite some local resentment over what was called "the Yale Crowd," and he was defeated the same year in a run for the Indiana House of Representatives.[8] Lafayette's Ellsworth Street and Ellsworth Historic District are named for the early real estate developer.[9]
