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History · Lafayette

Lafayette’s post office opened in 1828, and 36% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 19 buildings. Below: maps from 1950 on.

1828first post office
1on the National Register
36%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Lafayette began

When was Lafayette founded?

1828

The Lafayette post office opened in 1828, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 429198 years
Founding year: the first Lafayette post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lafayette’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 Lafayette are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1828: 198 years of Lafayette.
★ What stands out · 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
Timeline

Lafayette, 1828 to 1988

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1828Post officeThe Lafayette post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1988Post officeThe Lafayette post office closes
The story so far

Lafayette, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lafayette yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Lafayette is a census-designated place (CDP) between the cities of Roanoke and Christiansburg in eastern Montgomery County, southwest Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, Lafayette had a population of 429. It is located adjacent to Elliston, at the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Roanoke River. The Lafayette Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Its first post office opened in 1828. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 449 to 429 (-4%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

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.
Add from your album
On the map

Lafayette on the map, 1950 to 1972

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 1950 USGS mapLafayette on the 1963 USGS mapLafayette on the 1972 USGS map1950Elliston 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.

On the National Register

1 listing protects 19 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
19
each building in a district counts
first listed
1991
Lafayette Historic District
Lafayette Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Single-Pen Plan1
Center-Passage Plan1
Nave Plan1
20th-Century Commercial1
Lafayette Historic DistrictSingle-Pen Plan

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Lafayette

Nobody well known was born in Lafayette itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
John C. MatherAmerican astrophysicist and cosmologist · b. 1946
Henrietta LacksAmerican woman whose cancer cells are the sourc… · b. 1920
Henry KingAmerican film director · b. 1886
John PayneAmerican actor · b. 1912
David HuddlestonAmerican actor · b. 1930
Lynn BariAmerican actress · b. 1913
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Lafayette had its own post office from 1828 to 1988.

Lafayette
1828–1988
18201920today

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.

Elliston4 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lafayette’s history

What year was Lafayette founded?

The Lafayette post office opened in 1828, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Lafayette?

One place: the Lafayette Historic District (listed 1991).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.