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 Lafayette
is located a mere 6 miles from Denver on the high
plains of the Rocky Mountains, you'll find Lafayette,
Colorado resting in a rich natural environment with
beautiful views of the plains, Boulder's Flatirons,
and the snow-capped Rockies.
Approximately
23,000 residents of Lafayette real estate display
a great deal of pride in their community, readily
evident in Lafayette are well-kept neighborhoods,
tree-lined streets and carefully planned parks and
open space that form a seamless transition from
community to community.
Lafayette offers a wide variety of cultural and
recreational opportunities. The city has built a
world-class recreational center and 14 neighborhood
parks, providing such diverse activities as boat
rentals, picnic facilities and jogging-fitness trails,
outdoor swimming pools, picnic and play areas, tennis
courts, and athletic fields. Considering Lafayette
is a beautiful, moderate weather, both duffer and
golf fanatic alike must visit our highly rated championship
Indian Peaks Golf Course, designed by Hale Irwin.
Ffounded
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.
 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
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 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.
His
backup, Boulder criminal-defense lawyer Leonard
Frieling, also announced 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 "specifically, 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." 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."
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