Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns · #59 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it
Most of Lafayette was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. 8 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 4 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1890.
Lafayette dates its founding to 1888 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1890.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lafayette is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #59 of 159 in Colorado. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Few Colorado towns list much on the Register (a typical Colorado town has 1.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Lafayette’s 4.9 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 15 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lafayette’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lafayette.
Lafayette was founded in 1888 by Mary E. Miller (née Foote). She filed the original Town of Lafayette plat in January 1888 and sold the first residential lot – Lot 6, Block G, Town of Lafayette – in March 1888 to Hugh Hughes. In February 1889, the Town of Lafayette was incorporated.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltMiller House is built
In the archiveAIN 47-53 - DPLA - 5a32d07a0da6473be84898cc3882dd9a
In the archiveColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereBob Beauprez is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lafayette. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lafayette.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1900Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lafayette’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 410 people in 1890 to 30,411 in 2020, more than tenfold.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lafayette’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Lafayette’s post office has been open since 1889.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1888, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Lafayette’s post office opened in 1889, and the census of 1890 counted 410 people here.
Lafayette is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #59 of 159 in Colorado. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
8 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Congregational Church (listed 1983, the first), and 1 historic district, the Shannon Farm, with 4 contributing buildings. 15 historic buildings in all.
3% of Lafayette’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1994.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1937![Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]](https://images.townratings.com/story/1917/fb1a1d2491a6df375175-s.jpg)
1940
2005
