West Lafayette's State Street hilltop ca. 1900

A contemporary photo of the State Street/Northwestern Avenue intersection look towards the Levee and then to Lafayette.  The Caster building is where the Louis Sullivan "jewel box" Purdue National Bank would be built a few years after this photo was taken.  

Also of note - the hose and buggy transports and the electric/telegraph infrastructure already in place.   

Note also the electric streetcar tracks; the 1900 West Lafayette High School Yearbook tells us that a streetcar ran in a "loop" from downtown Lafayette up through West Lafayette and around Purdue University every 15 minutes!