From the Archives: Haunted Hike, 1987

Happy Halloween, everyone! In honor of my favorite holiday, I wanted to share a couple of photos from the Haunted Hike that took place in Happy Hollow Park. The photos below are from the Haunted Hike in 1987, taken from one of many scrapbooks donated to us by the West Lafayette Parks and Recreation Department.

Do any of you remember the Haunted Hike? Did you participate in one?

From the Archives: 1940s Morton School

With schools back in session, I want to share a photo from the past. Here is a picture of the first grade class at Morton School from 1941, which you can find in our Morton collection. Do any of you have fond memories of Morton?

State Street Reopens

The summer phase of the State Street Project has completed, and a major part of State Street has reopened on schedule. New traffic patterns are in effect for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers as we enter the fall phase of the project.

Below are a couple of photos I took this afternoon. How do you think the area compares to the drawings in the Project Gallery? How does it compare to the images in the video from our 2016 Bicentennial State Street Walking Tour?

For other photos of both the reopening and the welcome this morning, you can visit the West Lafayette City Government Facebook and The Exponent.

From the Archives: 1960s State Street

As we observe the current redevelopment of State Street, here's a great night shot of part of it from the 1963 West Lafayette High School yearbook in our Gordon Straley collection. Do you recognize any of the landmarks?

Ask the Readers: Lindberg Road?

We're looking to you, our readers, for assistance in finding some information about Lindberg Road.

We know that Lindberg Road appears on maps beginning in 1939, but not before that. However, we haven't found any major landowners named "Lindberg," which is a frequent reason for a street or road name in our area.

So, do any of you know how Lindberg Road got its name, or any other part of its history? Please feel free to share in the comments!

Weida Building Demolished

I took this photo of the Weida building at 302 Vine Street in West Lafayette a little over a week ago. A few days after that, it was demolished. This is one of many changes we'll be seeing as the State Street Redevelopment Project progresses.

What are some of your memories of this building? I hope that you will share them in the comments here or via email at wlhrcenter@gmail.com.

Historic Morris School Relocation

Have you heard the news? Historic Morris School, currently located at the northeast corner of U.S. 231 and West Cumberland Avenue in West Lafayette, is being relocated to an area of land gifted by Mr. Lynn Cason. The land it sits on now was sold to Franciscan Health, a private health care organization, in 2014, raising concerns for the schoolhouse's future throughout the local community.

The Journal and Courier shared the news of an accepted bid by the city in late September, WLFI shared similar news in mid-December, and Indiana Landmarks picked up the story in late December.

The fate of Morris School was a topic of discussion in a number of meetings of the West Lafayette History and Research Center's Advisory Board. Many of us tried to figure out how we could find both land and funds to relocate the schoolhouse. Now that Lynn Cason has graciously provided the land, we need to band together to raise the money. Please be sure to check out the links to learn more about this historic schoolhouse, and learn how you can help save this Indiana landmark!

In the meantime, I'd be excited to hear if any of you have memories of Morris School. Feel free to reach out to me or share here!