The story
Read it all →How Lafayette Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Lafayette Township.
Moffett-Ralston House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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History · Lafayette Township
19% of Lafayette Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Moffett-Ralston House and the Vandalia Methodist Episcopal Church and Vandalia School. Below: 4 old photos and papers and maps from 1956 on.
2on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Quick answers
About Lafayette Township’s history
How historic is Lafayette Township?
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What drives the grade ↓More historic than 78% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Lafayette Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lafayette Township is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lafayette Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194018.9% of homes (±14.6) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register2 listings, 3 historic buildings, 21.7 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 78%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Indiana town has 7.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Lafayette Township’s 21.7 sits above most of its state (68% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±14.6 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
What stands out about Lafayette Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Lafayette Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lafayette Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Lafayette Township, 1846 to 1956
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1846Post officeThe Vandalia post office opens
- 1890
In the archiveIndiana. Lafayette County Court House at Tippecanoe County - 20th century
- 1900
In the archiveWest side of square - 1913
In the archiveThe Country Club of Lafayette - 1927Post officeThe Vandalia post office closes
- 1956
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Lafayette Township, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1890s–1910s4 items
19001920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your albumToday14 recent
2016In Tippecanoe County, Indiana, near the city of Lafay…
2016The James H. Ward House
2016The Red Crown Mini-Museum is a restored 1920s Standar…
2016The Red Crown Mini-Museum is a restored 1920s Standar…
2016Business at the McCord Candies store and soda fountai…
2016Colorful marker describing the wide variety of trees …
2016The obelisk Battle of Tippecanoe monument near the ci…
2016The Moses Fowler House
2016Old, but refurbished, or, as the message says, "refre…
2016The Long Center for the Performing Arts Theatre in We…
2016A substantial brick and stone house
2016Central Presbyterian Church
2016A stately home
2016A block in downtown Lafayette, IndianaOn the map
Lafayette Township on the map, 1956 to 1986
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lafayette Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1956Patricksburg sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lafayette Township.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewIndiana. Lafayette County Court House at Tippecanoe County, 1890
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lafayette Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15On the National Register
2 historic places in Lafayette Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Moffett-Ralston House
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Greek Revival1
Italianate1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Lafayette Township
Nobody well known was born in Lafayette Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Another post office, Vandalia, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Vandalia
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lafayette Township
FenderGalimorePalestineSaint WalleySplinter RidgeTiptonWright
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Lafayette Township’s history
How does Lafayette Township rank for history?
Lafayette Township is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns. 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.
What is on the National Register in Lafayette Township?
Two places: the Moffett-Ralston House (listed 1975) and the Vandalia Methodist Episcopal Church and Vandalia School (2019).
How old are the homes in Lafayette Township?
19% of Lafayette Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±14.6 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1981.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From the Library of Congress (18), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.