Welcome to Greater Lafayette, Indiana.  Comprised of the cities of Lafayette & West Lafayette, we are recognized nationally as a top place to live, work and raise a family. We offer excellent educational facilities, from top-notch public and private schools to a world-class university; Purdue University.

Purdue University was Founded in 1869 and named after benefactor John Purdue, Purdue University began its journey with six instructors, 39 students and a mission to provide agriculture and mechanic arts education. The system-wide enrollment for the fall of 2005 was more than 69,000 students with the West Lafayette campus having an enrollment of nearly 39,000 students from all 50 states & 130 countries. About 12,500 people work for Purdue University, the county's largest employer and seventh-largest employer in the state.

Purdue University and its various schools rank at the top in several national polling systems. Among them include the Krannert School of Business, the School of Pharmacy and the School of Engineering. The University has produced more Astronauts than any other school except the Air Force Academy.

Throughout the Greater Lafayette community you will find sprawling parks, museums and theatres, exciting sports action, great health facilities, many leisure activities and a quality that is most important of all - community spirit!  We are home to over 300 manufacturing firms, which include such fields as robotics, biotechnology, food processing, microelectronics, instrumentation and office/clerical industries. And though the unemployment rate is below 3 percent, there is an ample labor pool. All levels of skilled workers are available, largely due to the area's excellent educational and job-training institutions.

Lafayette - West Lafayette is strategically located for business as well, with 80 percent of the top markets within a day's delivery time. The Native Americans were the first to discover the beauty of the Wabash Valley. Then the French arrived in the early 1700’s and established a trading post at Ouiatenon and changes began instantly. Soon thereafter, Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, arrived to try and preserve the Native American way of life. To do this, they established headquarters for their confederation at Prophetstown, which eventually led to the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Within five years, Indiana became a state and the settlers arrived here on the banks of the Wabash.

Fort Ouiatenon is the setting of Lafayette's yearly Feast of the Hunter's Moon, a recreation of an 18th Century French and Indian encampment on the banks of the Wabash River. Yearly attendance at this gathering routinely tops 40,000 people.

In 1826, Tippecanoe County was formed with Lafayette as its county seat. In the 1840s, the Wabash & Erie Canal arrived. By the 1850s the railroads had arrived to serve the developing town. Lafayette was soon a manufacturing, merchandising, and transportation center. Lafayette continued to grow and in 1869, Purdue University was founded. Today, Lafayette has developed as a diversified community...with manufacturing, merchandising, education and transportation all contributing their share.

Interesting tid-bits about the Greater Lafayette community:

If Doctor Mayo had been more partial to Indiana summers, we might have had his famous clinic here in Lafayette since he once had a practice in downtown Lafayette.

Eli Lilly served his apprenticeship on the north side of the courthouse square at the drug store at the sign of the Good Samaritan.

The first official airmail flight took place here in Lafayette on August 16, 1859 when the balloon "Jupiter" rose majestically above the city. The first attempt had been made the day before on the courthouse lawn, but because of problems that had to move the site a few blocks north.

Frank Cary, who once operated his business in the downtown area, is said to have created the first welded baseball catcher’s mask.

The downtown area had the following "oldest" in the State of Indiana:

• Oldest bar in same continuous location — The Knickerbocker
• Oldest continuous newsstand — City News
• Oldest drive-in — Triple XXX