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B−History
History · LaFayette

LaFayette’s post office opened in 1825, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 53% of U.S. towns · #653 of 758 in New York. What drives it

Below: maps from 1900 on and the census since 1830.

1825first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How LaFayette began

When was LaFayette founded?

1825

The LaFayette post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Christian Hollow (1828), Cardiff (1830) and Tully Valley (1833), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 2,560 in 18302020 census: 4,910201 years

How historic is LaFayette?

B−

More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first LaFayette post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives LaFayette’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, LaFayette is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #653 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of LaFayette’s overall grade.
Founding era1825, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194015.9% of homes (±7.7) · typical NY town 26.6% · U.S. 8.4%BNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical NY town 12.3 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 53%
NewerOlder
New York towns of 2,500+ (758)Ahead of 14%

New York towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New York town has 12.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so LaFayette’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of New York towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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 →

What stands out about LaFayette’s past

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

Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s LaFayette, and 8 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of LaFayette are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1840 and 1920, then grew 3-fold.On the map since 19004 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1973. Watch LaFayette change.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

LaFayette’s post office has been open since 1825. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Lafayette
1825–today
Christian Hollow
1828–1830
Cardiff
1830–1915
Tully Valley
1833–1903
Collingwood
1865–1903
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Baileys SettlementBig BendBreezy AcresCardiffCollingwoodGreen Valley Mobile ManorOnativiaParc du Bois
Gone or out of use
School Number 1school
10cemeteries and burying grounds inside LaFayette
CardiffChristian HollowDeWittHoughtaling HallowLaFayette RuralMaplewood RuralPine GroveSherman HollowSpoorWebb Hollow

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

Help out

Start LaFayette’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

LaFayette, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,50018501900195020002,600 in 1840Low: 1,293

Lost half of its people between 1840 and 1920, then grew 3-fold.

20 censuses, 1830–2020.

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

The story

How LaFayette came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of LaFayette.

Read it all →

The town is located within the former Central New York Military Tract and is partly in an area reserved for members of the Onondaga people. The first settler arrived circa 1797. The land was purchased from the Onondagas in 1817 and resold to settlers. It is known as Tgahwisdaniyú·daʼ in the Onondaga language.

The town of LaFayette was formed and organized on April 15, 1825, from parts of the Towns of Pompey and Onondaga after the Marquis de Lafayette famously toured the United States in 1824/1825.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

LaFayette, 1825 to 1990

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1825Post officeThe LaFayette post office opens
  3. 1828Post officeThe Christian Hollow post office opens
  4. 1830Post officeThe Christian Hollow post office closes
  5. 1830Post officeThe Cardiff post office opens
  6. 1843Born hereT. B. Terry is born here
  7. 20th century
  8. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1915Post officeThe Cardiff post office closes
  10. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 5,105
By decade

LaFayette, decade by decade

Today8 recent
US 20 wb in Lafayette, NY (2), July 20232023US 20 wb in Lafayette, NY (2), July 2023US 20 wb in Lafayette, NY (1), July 20232023US 20 wb in Lafayette, NY (1), July 2023Lafayette Jr.-Sr. High School, NY, July 20232023Lafayette Jr.-Sr. High School, NY, July 2023U.S. Route 20 in2020U.S. Route 20 inJamesville-Reservoir-2014-Nov2014Jamesville-Reservoir-2014-NovButternut-Creek-Jamesville-NY-20142014Butternut-Creek-Jamesville-NY-2014US 20 view at Big Bend, NY2010US 20 view at Big Bend, NYLa Fayette, New York2005La Fayette, New York
On the map

LaFayette on the map, 1900 to 1973

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

LaFayette on the 1900 USGS mapLaFayette on the 1943 USGS mapLaFayette on the 1955 USGS mapLaFayette on the 1973 USGS map1900Tully 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 LaFayette.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in LaFayette

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

See all →
T. B. TerryAmerican farmer and agricultural writer · b. 1843
L
Lars TiffanyAmerican lacrosse coach
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Pompey6 historic placesA−OtiscoIts storyBOnondaga3 historic placesB−DeWitt2 historic placesB+

Questions about LaFayette’s history

What year was LaFayette founded?

The LaFayette post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does LaFayette rank for history?

LaFayette is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #653 of 758 in New York. 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.

How old are the homes in LaFayette?

16% of LaFayette’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1980.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (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) 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.