CHIPS: City of the Dead Cemetery Walk

The Community Historic Project Support (CHIPS) has been working hard to restore the 1903 caretaker cottage at Grand View Cemetery. As part of the group's efforts, they held the City of the Dead Cemetery Walk on Saturday, October 20, 2017. Several people attended the event, which featured stories about the lives of individuals buried in the cemetery, and many stayed to learn more about the historic caretaker's cottage.

We thank CHIPS and all their work to restore this historic building. To learn more about them, you can visit their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/CHIPSWL

Please enjoy the video below featuring some memories of the event.

We would love to hear your memories, too! You can comment on this post, or email us at wlhrcenter@gmail.com.

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!

Looking Back . . . and Ahead

The leaves have begun to fall from the trees and the cool breeze is in the air. My favorite season has arrived, and with it has come some time for reflection on the past few months.

We held our 2016 Bicentennial State Street Walking Tour on Sunday, July 10. On behalf of the West Lafayette History and Research Center, I want to thank everyone for their support and assistance in making the walking tour such a success. I also want to thank everyone who went on the tour and spent some time with our docents. I know each of them enjoyed sharing some of West Lafayette's rich history with everyone who would listen.

We learned some new things from the tour, as well.
For instance, we all know Purdue Pete. Well, he's celebrating his 60th anniversary as one of Purdue's mascots this year, but Pete himself is actually over a decade older. He was born in 1940 when University Book Store's owners at the time created him to serve as the store's advertising logo. He didn't become a mascot for Purdue's athletics department until 1956. This is only one story we heard from visitors on the tour, and we are so grateful for all the stories shared that day.

Even though the event has passed, we're still working to capture all of the information and memories shared that day. We will soon have a video from the event, which will feature each of our highlighted stops, to share with everyone. We will also be adding photos to our growing collections in the archives. If anyone has any stories to share with us, please, don't hesitate to reach out to us. I'd love to hear about everyone's favorite parts of the tour. State Street will be completely transformed before we know it, and it's imperative that we capture its history so it's not swept away.

In other news, we have received many new donations to the West Lafayette Public Library's archives these past few months, and I am actively working to sort through them and get them organized. It's always fascinating to learn new information about the history of this great city. There will be much more to share in the coming weeks, so please check back to the blog soon. Happy fall, everyone!

West Lafayette Fire Department

The West Lafayette Fire Department, in cooperation with a Purdue University Archives class, has produced an online archive of their many years of service to the community. Link to the WLFD here.

Welcome!

Welcome to the West Lafayette Public Library's West Lafayette Memories Blog. This blog is established and maintained by staff of the West Lafayette Public Library so that we can collect, catalog and make available the many memories residents of West Lafayette Indiana have about their city.

Residents current and former are both welcome to contribute to this blog and to the Library's collection of West Lafayette Memories.

Links to other local history and memory collections are welcome. The Library staff hope that this blog and its associated collections will be a springboard to developing links to many sources for West Lafayette history, not the only source for such materials and memories!