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History · La Fayette

La Fayette’s post office opened in 1845, and 47% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1944 on and the census since 1870.

1845first post office
0on the National Register
47%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How La Fayette began

When was La Fayette founded?

1845

The La Fayette post office opened in 1845, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 284 in 18702020 census: 160181 years
Founding year: the first La Fayette post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about La Fayette’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of La Fayette are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of La Fayette’s homes were built before 1943.Deep rootsA post office since 1845: 181 years of La Fayette.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start La Fayette’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how La Fayette’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How La Fayette came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of La Fayette.

Read it all →

Once a prominent strip coal mine and farming village with a general store, high school(until 1970), hotel, bank, grain elevator, train depot, and many other features and amenities. Once the coal mines shut down and the railroad was removed in the early 1980s, it slowly became a low-income and high-poverty village with many people moving away, and it eventually diminished to the hollow shell of what it once was.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

La Fayette, 1845 to 1944

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1845Post officeThe Lafayette post office opens
  3. 1864Born hereGeorge A. Williams is born here
  4. 1870Born hereCharles Abel Buffum is born here
  5. 20th century
  6. 1944On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

La Fayette on the map, 1944 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of La Fayette. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

La Fayette on the 1944 USGS mapLa Fayette on the 1983 USGS map1944Kewanee sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of La Fayette.

People over time

La Fayette, census by census

010020030018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 301

Between 160 and 301 people in every census since 1870.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on La Fayette’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in La Fayette

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
George A. WilliamsAmerican politician, Nebraska · b. 1864
C
Charles Abel BuffumAmerican mayor and businessman · b. 1870
Places that used to be

Old corners

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Lafayette

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about La Fayette’s history

What year was La Fayette founded?

The La Fayette post office opened in 1845, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.