$1,888 raised by 21 donors
100% complete
$1,500 Goal
We partnered with more local organizations than ever before, creating community events like Know Your Antiques, Artifact Show-and-Tell programs, film screenings, and more. We received major grants that will allow us to complete a comprehensive inventory of our collection, rehouse and digitize mining maps, and preserve historic textiles. We informed and participated in local conversations about pieces of our past that have shaped our present, such as Lafayette's founder, Mary Miller, and unmarked graves in the Potter's Field of Lafayette Cemetery. We redesigned our website to reflect our new branding and mission. In total, we welcomed nearly 2,700 visitors and attendees to museum exhibits, walking tours, and educational programs, including over 300 students from local schools. None of this would have been possible without your support.
In 2024, we are planning to update our existing exhibits with community input to tell a wide range of stories from Lafayette’s history, increase partnerships with arts and cultural organizations around Lafayette, and complete grant-funded projects, while also continuing to care for our collection, host programs, and welcome visitors into the museum space. Will you consider supporting our mission? Donations from individuals like you are critical to allowing the museum to remain open and serve the community, and any amount helps.
The museum contains a wealth of Lafayette history, from the early days of pioneer heritage, through the coal mining years, and into the present. Visitors will view a broad collection of artifacts displayed in our exhibits. A particular favorite is an aerial map that highlights the extent of the mining beneath our feet. Almost every resident who visits loves to pinpoint their house to see if it sits above a tunnel.
Like most museums, only a small percentage of our collection is on display at one time. It is essential that we rotate the objects on exhibit for their preservation. A portion of our collection has been digitized and is available at the link below.
The Mission of the Lafayette History Museum is to showcase the history of Lafayette, Colorado.
Housed in the Lewis Home, an 1890s coal miner’s cottage that is on the National Register of Historic Places, the very walls that make up the museum help tell the story of Lafayette. Although the museum was founded with a focus on coal mining, the scope of our more than 4,000 artifacts ranges beyond that era to tell a broad history of Lafayette.
The Lafayette Historical Society began collecting items related to the history of the local community in 1976. That same year, Elmo Lewis sold his childhood home to the Society under the condition the house become a museum dedicated to the history and coal mining heritage of the town. Situated on the town’s original main street, across from its old City Hall, the Lewis House witnessed much of Lafayette’s life, including parades and celebrations, elections and protests—not to mention nationally significant labor strikes and cultural conflicts.
Over the years, the museum grew from focusing on Lafayette’s coal mining roots to be the primary repository of the city’s history. With the additions of walking tours, school field trips, and community programming, the museum works to share stories from throughout Lafayette’s past, both long ago and more recent. We seek to show all our visitors how our past continues to shape the Lafayette of today—and tomorrow.
From 1976 to 2022, the museum operated under the name Lafayette Miners Museum. In 2022, the Lafayette Historical Society changed the name to Lafayette History Museum to better reflect its scope of collections and programming that ranges well beyond the mining era. Without neglecting the mining heritage, the museum strives to capture the totality of Lafayette’s local history.
Organization name
Lafayette History Museum
other names
Lafayette Historical Society & Miners Museum
1976
Tax id (EIN)
84-0710613
Category
Arts, Culture & Humanities, Education
Organization Size
Small Organization
Address
108 E SIMPSON STLafayette, CO, US
Louisville, CO, US
Superior, CO, US
Boulder, CO, US
Erie, CO, US
Phone
303 665 7030
other
303-665-7030