Lafayette is a city and county seat of Tippecanoe County,
Indiana, United States, 101 kilometers (63 miles) northwest of
Indianapolis.
Lafayette had a population of 67,140 as of
a 2010 census. Along with its sister city, West Lafayette, on
the opposite side of the Wabash River, it forms Greater
Lafayette.
In addition to the agricultural sector and
Purdue University in West Lafayette, a Subaru automobile plant
is one of the largest employers in the region.
Lafayette
is the seat of the Diocese of Lafayette in Indiana.
Fort Ouiatenon was a French fort built in the 18th century in New
France. Fort Ouiatenon was built in 1717 at the confluence of the Wabash
River and the Tippecanoe River in Illinois Country. The fort was three
miles from present-day West Lafayette, Indiana.
The fort was
baptized with the Native American name of Ouiatenon, which in Algonquian
languages designates the territory of the Wea tribe, a Native American
people related to the Miamis tribe who had two of their main communities
not far from the fort in Lafayette and Terre Haute. French explorers and
French-Canadian trappers and trappers roamed this region in search of
fur and beaver skins.
Officer François-Marie Picoté de Belestre,
accompanied by a few traveling companions, decided to set up a fortified
trading post which was under the command of another officer,
François-Marie Bissot de Vincennes. Fort Ouiatenon had an important role
in a line of defense against English expansion. On the other hand, the
governor of New France, Philippe de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, wanted to make
sure that the Wea people would only trade with the French.
During
the 18th century the fort would house up to 3,000 people and would be
the focal point for several villages of the Wea and Kickapous tribes.
In 1760, the French defeat led to the eviction of French troops from
the fort with the arrival of Robert Rogers at the head of a British
detachment. The English troops will not arrive until a year later in
1761.
On June 1, 1763, Native American forces from Pontiac,
allied with the French, captured the fort during the Pontiac Rebellion.
The fort will never again be used as a cantonment or garrison.
During the American War of Independence, General George Washington
ordered the destruction of Fort Ouiatenon, which served as a base for
the British allies.
In 1930, a replica of Fort Ouiatenon was
built by a local doctor named Richard Wetherill. The Daughters of the
American Revolution had placed a memorial near this location in 1909.
Doctor Wetherill's blockhouse was copied from those more typical of
British fortifications (using horizontal pieces) and does not match the
style or type of construction of the original Fort Ouiatenon (with the
vertical pieces). This replica is now the focal point of a county park.
The original site of Fort Ouiatenon, located one mile from the replica
site, was discovered and confirmed by archaeological excavations in the
1960s. In 1970, the site was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places by the US Department of the Interior.
Since 1967 is held
in autumn the festival of the "Feast of the Hunters' Moon" (The Feast of
the Hunters' Moon) which traces and brings to life the main highlights
and historical events of Fort Ouiatenon. Artifacts from the original
site of Fort Ouiatenon are displayed during the holiday by the
Tippecanoe County Historical Association. The Fort Ouiatenon Blockhouse
Museum is open to tourists in summer.
Purdue University Airport
Airport Purdue University Airport
(English: Lafayette Airport, West Lafayette Airport) in the United
States. Purdue University Airport is located in the county of Tippecanoe
County and the state of Indiana, in the eastern part of the country, 900
km west of the capital city Washington, D.C. Purdue University Airport
is located 181 meters above sea level.
The land around the Purdue
University Airport is flat. The highest point in the area has a height
of 204 meters and is 1.7 km north of the Purdue University Airport.
There are about 116 people per square kilometer around the Purdue
University Airport is quite densely populated. The nearest larger town
is West Lafayette, 2.9 km northeast of the Purdue University Airport.
The Purdue University Airport is surrounded by fields. In the region
around the Purdue University Airport, canals are incredibly common.
The climate is continental. The average temperature is 11 °C. The
warmest month is June, at 23 °C, and the coldest is January, at −5 °C.
The average rainfall is 1,284 millimeters per year. The wettest month is
April, with 166 millimeters of rain, and the driest is March, with 59
millimeters.
The area of what is now Tippecanoe County was inhabited by a tribe of
Miami people known as the Ouiatenon or Wea. The French government
established Fort Ouiatenon in 1717 over the Wabash River and 3 miles
south of present-day Lafayette.
Like many small border towns, the
city was named after French General Lafayette, who fought on the side of
the colonists against the British during the American Revolutionary War
and was a key military adviser to the insurgents. Since then he has been
revered as a war hero in the USA.
Clara Shortridge Foltz (1849–1934), first woman attorney in
California
Ray Ewry (1873–1937), track and field athlete, 10-time
Olympic gold medalist
Victor Potel (1889–1947), actor
Louise
Fazenda (1895–1962), comedian and actress
Harold Harris (born 1934),
jazz pianist
Sydney Pollack (1934–2008), film director and actor
Peter Carruthers (1935–1997), theoretical physicist
John Korty
(1936–2022), film director, screenwriter and cinematographer
Eddy
Davis (1940–2020), jazz musician
Donald E. Williams (1942–2016), NASA
astronaut
Annie Corley (born 1960), actress
Axl Rose (born 1962),
lead singer of the band Guns N' Roses
Izzy Stradlin (born 1962),
former guitarist for Guns N' Roses
Embeth Davidtz (born 1965), film
and stage actress
Shannon Hoon (1967–1995), lead singer of the band
Blind Melon
Neal Mohan (born 1973), manager
Tammy Lynn Michaels
(born 1974), actress
Janet Lee (born 1976), Taiwanese tennis player
Brandon Wagner (born 1987), racing driver
Claudia Lee (born 1996),
actress
Holly Hendrix (born 1997), porn actress