Lafayette is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Lafayette and West Lafayette, which is the site of Purdue University, make up the heart of the Lafayette, Indiana Metropolitan Area. In the 2010 census, Lafayette’s population is approximately 67,000.
Lafayette was established on the southeast region of the Wabash River in 1825. While the settlement was near the inaccessible part of the river, trading posts and French fort were founded in 1717. The settlement was named to commemorate Marquis de Lafayette, a French revolutionary hero.
The region of Tippecanoe County was initially resided by the tribe of Ouiatenon, prior to the arrival of the European pathfinders. The French government built the Fort Ouiatenon parallel to the Wabash River in 1717. A few years later, it became the center of trade activities for Indians and merchants. Every fall, the Feast of the Hunters’ Moon is celebrated on the site.
William Digby was the one who mapped out the town of Lafayette in 1825. In the following year, it became Tippecanoe County’s set. General Lafayette, who helped the troops of George Washington in the American Revolutionary War, was honored by naming the town for him. He traversed the United States between 1824 and 1825.
During its early establishment, Lafayette served as a shipping center. The first United Patent Commissioner, Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, wrote and published the Valley of the Upper Wabash, Indiana, with Hints on Its Agricultural Advantages as a way to attract immigrants to the city and the entire region. He acquired farmland in and in the surrounding area of Lafayette in 1845. He migrated from Connecticut to the city to look after the land sales in the same year. Ellsworth looked for farmers to buy his farmland by 1847, and in 1851, he was elected as the president of the Tippecanoe County Agricultural Society. He won despite some disputes with the residents, which were regarded as the “Yale Crowd.” He ran for the Indiana House of Representatives in the same year, but he was unsuccessful. He was named for the Ellsworth Historic District and Ellsworth Street.
In the 1840s, the Wabash and Erie Canal made a substantial impact on the city’s trade. Lafayette became even more influential in the entire region. In the 1850s, railroads arrived in Lafayette. The town was interconnected with other areas of the state.
The first official airmail delivery in the country happened in Lafayette on August 17, 1859. John Wise was the one leading the balloon that set off from the fields of the Lafayette courthouse. His goal was to get to New York, but he called due to the poor weather conditions that forced him to land near Crawfordsville. The mail finally reached its target place by train. As a remembrance of the event, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 7c airmail stamp in 1959.
Greater Lafayette or the combination of Lafayette and West Lafayette was the pioneer city in Indiana, where the internet was made available in 1992. It happened during the college town connection launching.