Here are a few pictures I took back in the late summer of 2003 when I was a senior at Purdue University. We lived in a great little apartment downtown in a building that was located on the courthouse square at Main and N. 4th Street. To get to class in West Lafayette I would either ride my bike across the pedestrian bridge that crosses the Wabash river or take the free trolley (actually a bus that looks like a trolley). The Trolley was super reliable and very convenient with waits of less than 5 minutes between each bus and a simple loop route through downtown and campus. Plus, there were about 4 coffee shops (thankfully none being starbucks, you have to cross the bridge to West Lafayette for that) located on the square so you could always get something to warm you up while you waited in the winter. The train station offers passenger trips several times a week to Chicago. It is a very healthy urban downtown, and probably one of the most comfortable places I have ever lived.

 

Enjoy the pics!

 

 

 

 

Very nice.  I was quite impressed by Lafayette when I visited this summer.  I'm not exactly sure what the historic preservationists have done there, but whatever it is, it seems to be highly successful—definitely a wonderfully intact downtown.

Beautiful shots. Downtown Lafayette is one of the most remarkable cities in Indiana for its intact blocks of old buildings occupied and in good condition, and for the wonderful historic homes in the surrounding neighborhoods. Its transit system is very effective, and the handsome relocated Big Four station, now the transportation center, anchors the downtown nicely along the river.

Perhaps the Ann Arbor of Indiana?

Impressive city.

Perhaps the Ann Arbor of Indiana?

 

I don't know that I'd go that far; this is Indiana, you know.

 

The downtown has a fairly solid core of good 19th century buildings, and a number of them house galleries and antique shops.  Some of the blank spaces are being filled in, and there's residential rehab going on in some old commercial buildings. As in a lot of midwestern towns, much of the prime real estate near the courthouse is occupied by law offices. Not a bad thing, as the lawyers usually spend money tastefully on their buildings.

 

The college stuff, I think, is mostly on the other side of the river in West Lafayette. In my college era (fifty years ago), most of the businesses along the hill up to the campus were auto parts, auto salvage, low-end used cars, pretty gritty. That stuff is all gone now, replaced by multi-story apartment blocks, fast-food chains, college hangouts. It's all newer construction, mostly pretty bland and car-centric.

 

Over the past 15 - 20 years Lafayette has spent major bucks on well-planned and well-executed infrastructure improvements. Thirty or so railroad grade crossings were eliminated by consolidating the various railroads on one corridor that runs along the Wabash River, and providing adequate street overpasses and noise barriers so that the freight trains no longer roar through the middle of the business district.

 

The old Big Four single-storey brick railroad depot was moved about two blocks and positioned atop a lower level that accomodates local transit services, an Amtrak ticket office and Greyhound. The railroad is below grade level, and a covered walkway and elevator provide access to passenger boarding areas. The original waiting room is beautifully restored and available for public and private events. It seemed to me that for a city its size, it's fairly swarming with public transit, and the key points on the system have shelters and digital reader boards that display next-bus info.

 

Most other Indiana cities could learn a lot from a visit to Lafayette.

Lafayette has a fantastically preserved downtown. Even since these pictures were taken there has been a flurry of activity, culminating in the downtown Renaissance Apartment and condo building near the Wabash River.

 

Like Rob said, Indiana sure could learn a lot from Lafayette has done to preserve itself.