Sticking Around Lafayette, Indiana

She didn't plan on staying, but more than 20 years later novelist Patricia Henley embraces her adopted community

  • By Patricia Henley
  • Photographs by Tim Klein
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Lafayette Indiana
"Not gussied up or cute, Lafayette is a sturdy town, persistent in its character," says Patricia Henley. (Tim Klein)

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Tippecanoe County Courthouse

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Not gussied up or cute, Lafayette is a sturdy town, persistent in its character, as I see it now, creative and practical, and it’s not true that we never change. Sleek condos branch out in the second and third floors of historic buildings downtown. A campaign is underway to clean up what unites both communities, the Wabash River. Walking and biking trails have been constructed, an annual River Fest established. A state-of-the-art homeless shelter was built by the Lafayette Urban Ministry, a coalition of 42 congregations from both sides of the river.

When it comes to diversity, Purdue has the second-highest number of inter­national students among public universities and colleges in the country; the Subaru plant draws a Japanese community. I like to take visitors to Mama Ines Mexican Bakery. You can purchase sugar horns and marranitos—spicy, brown, pig-shaped cookies—in a store reminiscent of bakeries south of the border; with an aluminum tray and tongs, you help yourself from the pastry-laden cookie sheets, Mexican pop music blasting. An annual fiddlers’ gathering is held seven miles away and members of the rock band Green Day have done production work at Sonic Iguana, a renowned punk rock studio. We have more than 16 houses of worship downtown and I defy you to sleep through the Sunday morning bells. And the Dalai Lama spoke at Purdue in 2007. That’s diversity.

After living out of state for a year, Indiana essayist Scott Russell Sanders wrote: “What I see is stitched through and through with my own past.” I get his meaning now. Every time I’m near Riehle Plaza and the train depot, what crosses my mind is the annual Hunger Hike that starts there, raising money for local food banks and pantries. My muscles recall the jog I did for seven years, up the Columbia Street hill and down Union, rain or shine or snow. And farther afield are the places that have wormed their way into my fiction: the round barns of Fulton County and the prairie gardens of Prophets­town State Park.

Is all that nostalgia? I think not. The Tippecanoe County Courthouse, the centerpiece of downtown La­fayette, was built in the 1880s because the citizenry wanted a building of permanent and durable character. Made of Indiana limestone and brick, it has 500-pound walnut doors, 100 columns and Tecumseh himself rises from one of the pediments. The feeling that what I see is stitched through with my past is not nostalgia, but continuity. Like the courthouse, it makes for a durable, or grounded, life.

Living here is a little like marriage. There are limitations and a universe of satisfactions within them. I have developed a loyalty to what is. Yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the role the Internet plays in my willingness to be content. It is the bookmobile of now. If wanderlust becomes an itch I have to scratch, it’s easy to purchase theater tickets for a week in London. I can order DVDs of Australian movies. But I walk a long gravel lane to retrieve my snail mail, the same as I did 50 years ago. When he was 3 years old, my youngest grandchild began walking with me to the mailbox. The first time we passed the row of dark blue-green conifers he said, “We’re in the woods now,” his voice hushed with awe and perhaps a little worry. The woods were still a mystery to him, just as they were to me as a girl. Some things have yet to change. Some things I hope never will.

Patricia Henley is the author of In the River Sweet, a novel set in the Midwest and Vietnam.


I grew up on a back road in a stretch of flat farmland in west-central Indiana. When school was out, the summer bookmobile was my lifeline. It would park near the railroad trestle, in a half-moon of gravel, and I would load up on novels and feel secure, knowing that when chores were done and softball games over, I had a story to read. When I was 16, my parents moved us to Maryland. We drove through the curvaceous Appalachian Mountains. Ever after I have craved hills and mountains and travel, but I have almost always made my home in small towns or on back roads near small towns. I thought I would never go back to Indiana, yet after years of nomadic life, I did return, a little over two decades ago, and I stayed. I live in a 19th-century brick house on a half-acre surrounded by fields where coyotes howl. It’s similar to my life as a child. Stories are important to me, as well as meandering walks, gardening and observing what the philosopher David Abram calls the “more-than-human world,” the coyotes and herons, fir trees and coneflowers. Still, the phrase “going to town” has an anticipatory glimmer.

When I go to town now, it’s to Lafayette, Indiana.

I arrived here on a sweltering night in August 1987 in a Honda Civic I had driven from Montana, a red kayak strapped to the roof. I spent the last few hours on back roads, tunneling through corn. The towering fields seemed architectural, as if they would last forever. Insects crusted up on the windshield; every 30 miles or so I would clear them off with an ice scraper. Purdue University had offered me a stint as the visiting writer and I figured when it was over I would skedaddle back to the Rockies. I cruised right on through West Lafayette, the enormous hilltop campus of Purdue, crossed the Wabash River and drove up South Street, another hill, and that made me happy—I would not have to give up rolling terrain after all.

I was asked to stay on, and I did. For the first seven years, I lived on the Lafayette side of the Wabash in a furnished apartment. My office mate at Purdue was an Italian-American poet, Felix Stefanile, who had arrived from New York in 1961. Felix would listen to my whining about the lack of espresso, no café life. “When I moved here,” he would admonish me, grinning, “you couldn’t find an Italian tomato in the grocery.” That made sense, sadly; my mother’s repertoire of vegetables had ranged from corn to green beans and back again. Perhaps because of my Catholic upbringing and all the rules it imposed, I rolled back into my home state expecting it to be repressed and unimaginative, but I discovered its secret underbelly. I found it in candlelit solstice ceremonies and at the Depot, a gay bar, where, beneath a sparkly disco ball, drag queens danced joyously in prom gowns that would have made a sorority sister proud. I have no idea if such alternatives persist; my life is different now.

Back then I had one foot out the door, my suitcases at the ready. I resisted being here. Tongue-in-cheek, I called it La Fiesta or Lay Flat, like many who want to leave but can’t work up what one of my friends calls escape velocity. And what escapes did I want? My desires varied from the jazz clubs of San Francisco to the desert in bloom. The conventional wisdom among some Indiana writers is that we are always trying to decide whether to go or stay. My attitude precisely for the first ten years.

Even though I work on the west side of the Wabash, on a campus that is a small town in itself, with some 40,000 students, 10 Nobel Prize winners and 22 astronauts to its name, when the teaching day ends, I gravitate to downtown Lafayette. If I stand at one end of Main Street and squint, I can imagine it 50 years ago; the buildings from the 1800s have been preserved, the stone corbels and pointed-arched windows.

Old-timers may say that downtown isn’t what it once was, before the mall and the commercial strip that stretches for miles on Route 52. Downtown, you can’t buy a pound of nails or a new pair of shoes. But here’s what you can do: sip that espresso; buy locally made stained glass, earrings and cut-velvet scarves; drink oatmeal stout brewed in a former furniture store; select handmade chocolates for your sweetheart; hear a poetry reading or the Lafayette Symphony; buy antiques for a song; pick up a 13-mile trail that leads to the Tippecanoe Battlefield in Battle Ground; or attend a musical event put on by Friends of Bob, our local nonprofit music co-op. Downtown Lafayette hosts a farmer’s market that has operated in the same vicinity for 170 years. While the downtown of yesteryear—with its five-and-dime and movie theaters, its department stores and the red neon rocking chair atop Reifer’s Furniture—may be gone, the community still thrives here.

Of course, I noticed how friends and family reacted to my decision to live in Indiana. Until 2006 most of the state did not cotton to daylight saving time. We were on the same time as New York in the winter and Chicago in the summer. We never changed our clocks. This was confusing to friends who would telephone from other parts of the country. I would say: “In Indiana we never change.” One time a writer at a conference in Washington State dismissed me with a wave of her hand and said, “Oh, you’re from one of those I-states”—Indiana, Illinois, Iowa. As my grandmother would have said, she ruffled my feathers, and I never forgot it. I would invite friends and relatives to visit me in Lafayette, and they might hesitate, suggesting it was too flat or lacking in diversity, not a “destination,” as one cousin put it.

Not gussied up or cute, Lafayette is a sturdy town, persistent in its character, as I see it now, creative and practical, and it’s not true that we never change. Sleek condos branch out in the second and third floors of historic buildings downtown. A campaign is underway to clean up what unites both communities, the Wabash River. Walking and biking trails have been constructed, an annual River Fest established. A state-of-the-art homeless shelter was built by the Lafayette Urban Ministry, a coalition of 42 congregations from both sides of the river.

When it comes to diversity, Purdue has the second-highest number of inter­national students among public universities and colleges in the country; the Subaru plant draws a Japanese community. I like to take visitors to Mama Ines Mexican Bakery. You can purchase sugar horns and marranitos—spicy, brown, pig-shaped cookies—in a store reminiscent of bakeries south of the border; with an aluminum tray and tongs, you help yourself from the pastry-laden cookie sheets, Mexican pop music blasting. An annual fiddlers’ gathering is held seven miles away and members of the rock band Green Day have done production work at Sonic Iguana, a renowned punk rock studio. We have more than 16 houses of worship downtown and I defy you to sleep through the Sunday morning bells. And the Dalai Lama spoke at Purdue in 2007. That’s diversity.

After living out of state for a year, Indiana essayist Scott Russell Sanders wrote: “What I see is stitched through and through with my own past.” I get his meaning now. Every time I’m near Riehle Plaza and the train depot, what crosses my mind is the annual Hunger Hike that starts there, raising money for local food banks and pantries. My muscles recall the jog I did for seven years, up the Columbia Street hill and down Union, rain or shine or snow. And farther afield are the places that have wormed their way into my fiction: the round barns of Fulton County and the prairie gardens of Prophets­town State Park.

Is all that nostalgia? I think not. The Tippecanoe County Courthouse, the centerpiece of downtown La­fayette, was built in the 1880s because the citizenry wanted a building of permanent and durable character. Made of Indiana limestone and brick, it has 500-pound walnut doors, 100 columns and Tecumseh himself rises from one of the pediments. The feeling that what I see is stitched through with my past is not nostalgia, but continuity. Like the courthouse, it makes for a durable, or grounded, life.

Living here is a little like marriage. There are limitations and a universe of satisfactions within them. I have developed a loyalty to what is. Yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the role the Internet plays in my willingness to be content. It is the bookmobile of now. If wanderlust becomes an itch I have to scratch, it’s easy to purchase theater tickets for a week in London. I can order DVDs of Australian movies. But I walk a long gravel lane to retrieve my snail mail, the same as I did 50 years ago. When he was 3 years old, my youngest grandchild began walking with me to the mailbox. The first time we passed the row of dark blue-green conifers he said, “We’re in the woods now,” his voice hushed with awe and perhaps a little worry. The woods were still a mystery to him, just as they were to me as a girl. Some things have yet to change. Some things I hope never will.

Patricia Henley is the author of In the River Sweet, a novel set in the Midwest and Vietnam.


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Comments (54)

I lived on Main Street Lafayette 30 years ago, from the photo looks the same, indeed sturdy in its character. I remember hot dogs from a clandestine subertainian shop in Main Street "you want to buy your trailer back?" talk about atmospheric, then back to the Ice cream factory. THe whole time I was there I was plotting to get to a big-shot city, "don't go there!" they told me at the factory, I thought they were fools , turns out they were right.

Posted by David Nicholls on April 11,2013 | 11:38 AM

I was born in Lafayette and consider West Lafayette, where I grew up and graduated from high school, my hometown. Though my family members have all, save one, since moved away, the area still seems deeper and richer in people and connection to land than the score of other places I have lived. Your essay captures much of what makes the area unique -- I could walk the hills rising east out of the valley downtown, see the old houses and Prophetstown plain in summer, recall the musty, hushed courthouse interior. Much has also evidently changed to keep the community vibrant. Thank you for the trip.

Posted by Roger Branigin on January 31,2013 | 11:16 AM

I've lived in Lafayette/West Lafayette for 16 years. In that time I've seen countless people determined to escape and have repeatedly encouraged them to do so. I know that many will explore different parts of the world and experiment living elsewhere before coming to the conclusion that Lafayette is truly an amazing place to live. They often return. I've seen a fair bit of the outside world and am very content to call this my home. This article barely scratches the surface on Lafayette's relationship with music. Countless musicians/bands have emerged from lafayette. At times this town has been a mecca for certain genres- not a mere pitstop but a destination for bands from the other side of the globe and fans from around the midwest. A few 'big names' emerged from lafayette (Axl, Izzy, Shannon Hoon). Lafayette is the home to a couple respected independent record labels with international rosters and international recognition. A night at a local downtown nightspot will often put you in the same room with more than a handful of local musicians who have played shows in more cities and countries than most of us can hope to visit in a lifetime. Most of this rarely occurs because of shared connections- but often occurs because of some not-readily-definable 'thing' that Lafayette instills in it's locals that eventually leads to opportunities. Something in the water.

What Lafayette lacks in extremes, it makes up for with balance. The population size and location strike a perfect middle ground. The roots are deep rather than wide- and when that isn't quite enough, the branches can quickly carry you to two major metro areas.

Others can keep their impersonal and (often) plastic major metro coastal cities. I am more than happy to let them narcissistically ramble on about how great NYC or LA are while they are visiting. I am more than happy to keep this place as our little secret.

Posted by J on October 25,2011 | 10:36 AM

Looking for a man named Chet Elkins, or any surviving relatives. I am a member of an national Oldsmobile club, and remember him owning a blue 1941 Oldsmobile in the 1970's. Wondering if he would like to see it again! Thanks.
Tom Cola
Henderson, Nevada
National Antique Oldsmobile Club
1941 model year advisor

Posted by Tom Cola on September 15,2011 | 10:07 PM

Dear Ms. Henley. I enjoyed your article very much. my wife and I moved back to the area 20+ years ago. We grew up in this City.

We both work at Purdue. She is in the Athletic Department and I am the Corporate Support Manager for WBAA AM/FM Public Radio(NPR).
Thanks for sharing your story!

Brian

Posted by Brian Garrity on July 6,2010 | 01:29 PM

Just "discovered" this gem today! A bit after the publication date but no matter. Reading it brought back many memories. I no longer live in West Lafayette but spent my formative years there - including Purdue - and moved back for 6 years a few years ago. It is a gem of a place - where I made my dearest friends, and fondest memories - on both sides of the Wabash.

Posted by Rosalind Lister on June 16,2010 | 01:44 PM

A wonderful story that opened the floodgates of memory. My father worked at Eli Lilly, mom worked at Loeb's and for GTE. Later dad taught school in Dayton. He was one of the founding members of the Lafayette Coin Club that used to meet at McCord's. I remember going with him as a kid and we could pick out one of anything in the glass counter. My brother had an affinity for the "fried egg on toast". We moved away, but somehow I found my way back to attend Purdue. Been from coast to coast since, but, like geese, now my son is enrolled at Purdue. The wheel turns, and each generation touches base to be a part of the "old gold" tradition. Boiler up.

Posted by Bill Appleton on April 16,2010 | 07:10 PM

Thanks Patricia,

This article makes makes my husband and I truly homesick. We were both raised in Lafayette, IN but are now residents in Dublin, Ireland. This summer we will be returning with a our new baby and hope that she, too forms an attachment to Lafayette just as our son has, although he has spent most of his life living overseas. Now 6, he maintains that Lafayette is his hometown and monitors his language closely to sound like a Hoosier refusing to adopt an Irish accent.

We love our summer visits to Lafayette and are itching to move back to the Midwest someday soon.

Posted by Erin Britton on April 12,2010 | 07:15 AM

What a great article! I grew up in West Lafayette--my father was a professor at Purdue. I betrayed my own heart and went to IU, then moved to Virginia. I still miss West Lafayette and may yet return. It's a great place to live and grow up.

Posted by NITA on April 3,2010 | 11:42 PM

I'm a WL native, graduated from Hanover College ('69) and taught in Morocco IN for a couple of years before moving to WI and then CA. Although my body has declared the Bay Area its home, I miss the MidWest and WL in particular. WLHS delivered the best teachers/teaching I've experienced (through 2 masters degrees), a spirit of community that has been hard to duplicate, people and their families I still feel close to, a graduating class that loves to reune, and so much more.

I'm proud to be a Hoosier and a Lay-Flat-ian, at home in Berkeley but far from "home" too.

Posted by Susan Straley on April 3,2010 | 09:33 PM

I once heard a story/myth about the Wabash river near Lafayette. Though I don't recall the details, it advised that the 'spirit of the Wabash would capture certain souls/hearts and prevent them from straying too far or for too long.'
I am a happy victim of that myth! During Easter of 1973 I was on a trip with my parents looking at prospective colleges. We stopped to stay with my sister and her family for the holiday in W.Lafayette. Little did I know I would return to work here in 1984 and have become totally 'midwesternized' I am often asked WHY I would move my life of ocean and sand from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to the soy and cornfields of Lafayette. This article written by Ms. Hensley articulates just that.
Thank you, Patricia!

Posted by trish on March 28,2010 | 11:19 PM

This is such a lovely ode to our town.

I grew up here and fantasized about leaving through my adolesence, but thanks to a certain turn of events I ended up attending Purdue (where Ms. Henley was one of my instructors) and have made Lafayette my permanent home. I have real pride for the Lafayette area, and Indiana in general, for our beautiful seasons, the cultural enrichment of the university and its students and faculty, and the immeasurable quality of life that we are able to enjoy here.

Thank you, too, for the shout-out to Mama Ines' Bakery. It is one of the many culinary gems in our community.

Posted by Lauren Bruce on March 28,2010 | 04:44 PM

I would be interested to know the full list of 10 Nobel Prize winners from Purdue. Wikipedia only lists five.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_by_university_affiliation

Someone needs to get this updated!

Posted by Mike Morehouse on March 27,2010 | 02:56 PM

I love this article. And although it is unlikely I will ever live in Lafayette again, I was born and grew up there and I have great fondness and respect for such a fine community.

A good story: I work in the Willis (Sears) Tower in Chicago. I'm a princess, so I drive the two miles to work and park in the building. I walked into the Franklin Street lobby from the parking garage two days ago and there stood over 50 German Baptists. They all looked confused, and security looked panicked.

I found the security guy I know and asked if I could help. He said, I don't know, I don't believe they are a security risk, but I don't know how to help them. (You may remember that the Sears Tower was on the "high impact" list for Al Queda on Sep 11).

I said, are they looking for the Skydeck, and he said I don't know.

So, I walked over to the closest and oldest man I could find and said, "I can help you, how can I help you?"

He said, we want to go to the top (yes, that's the Skydeck), but we have to have our own elevator and nobody understands.

So, I made that happen. I escorted them to the elevator. I asked them where they are from. As the doors closed, they said, "Lafayette, Indiana." I don't think they heard me say, "I am, too."

Posted by Wendi Taylor Nations on March 26,2010 | 02:42 AM

What a wonderful tribute to Lafayette, Indiana! I also grew up in Lafayette on a dairy farm about 3 miles south of the city. My grandparents and parents were farmers who worked the land which my husband and I live on today. Although most of the farm was sold in the early 70's, we cherish the 3 acres of land which our home rests upon today. I can still walk along the pasture where my parents' dairy cattle roamed although the landscape has changed. I can also take leisurely walks along the roads where my dad's farm implements once traveled. I was elated to leave the farm back when I married in 1967, but now I am just as elated to live on a small portion of it. I can't imagine leaving Lafayette or Tippecanoe County where I graduated from high school and Purdue University. My mother and I often shopped downtown at the Fashion and Loebs and always enjoyed a wonderful lunch down at the restuarant in Loebs. Now that I recently retired from Dayton Elementary after 40 years of teaching, I also think that the small communities around Lafayette are what makes it special. A great article to read, Ms.Henley, and a great place to live!

Posted by Julia Klaiber Adams on March 22,2010 | 12:22 AM

Virginia Rouse, please contact me at my registered email address. Being of you're generation and growing up in West Lafayette on Vine Street(off of northwestern at the fire department HQ)I would love to connect with you to explore experiences of those early years at Morton School and others that you/we might know. Living in a College town was the center of the universe to us although it may have been in the middle of nowhere to others that came thru town on their brief but purposeful visit. Many hours have I spent at the Mars and Lafayette Theaters and the State on 5th street as a kid. You may remember the Piggly Wiggly near the Purdue National bank although I can't recall the name of the woman's 'fashion' store between the two. Southworth's book store across from Deac's book store just down the block from the Harry's Chocolote shop are all memories of the village that I recall as do other members of the class of WLHS 58 during a recent 50th reunion held in Lafayette in 2008. Ah Yes I remember it well. I still think this was a great place to explore one's formative years.

Posted by Don Jordan on March 11,2010 | 09:21 PM

I lived in West Lafayette/Lafayette from 1960 thru 1982, graduated from West Lafayette High School and Purdue University.

I've lived in New Orleans, Cleveland, southern California, Virginia, and have lived in Connecticut for the past 25 years.

Tippecanoe County is still the only place that feels like home to me. I've never found another place like it.

Posted by Tom Hamilton on March 11,2010 | 01:29 PM

Ms. Henley,

Thank you for the remarkable article regarding Lafayette/West Lafayette. I remember moving here from Cincinnati in 1973 and being from a large metropolitan city I was dismayed when I first saw Lafayette's version of "downtown". Thirty-seven years later I can't imagine living anywhere else. The people say hello when you pass them on the street, are ready to lend a hand when assistance is needed, and aren't hesitant to show their patriotism. Now I belong to a facebook Lafayette/West Lafayette Nostalgia...Do you remember. Members are joining by the hundreds so seems there are a lot of folks out there who agree with you.

Posted by Judith Weiss on March 10,2010 | 09:36 AM

What a great article Ms. Henley. West Lafayette is my home, although I've not lived there for over 23 years. I grew up never moving from our home in Ravinamy addition off Soldier's Home Road. Reading your article and comments on the Lafayette site on facebook, I'll tell you, I'm homesick. Because of my work our family has had to move often. You never get a sense of roots being put down anywhere. Reading this article reminded me of what a special place my hometown is. I have an arial photo of my neighborhood hanging in my office. I look at it all the time. It serves as a break from a crazy work schedule. Often I sit back, look at that picture, and relive life when it was uncluttered by complexity. My heart longs for that again. Whether I ever live in Lafayette again, it is the only place in this world I'll ever truly consider home. Thanks for a very positive and uplifting article from one who took the time to notice just what Lafayette has to offer.

Posted by Mike McCabe on March 9,2010 | 12:36 PM

I was also born in Lafayette (St E) but grew up in Delphi--on Lafayette Street! I went to Purdue and get back as often as I can and my daughter will graduate soon from Purdue.

We are thinking of moving there when we retire but after living in the Chicago area for over 30 years I was concerned about the level of "conservatism" that surrounds the area. Some of the comments above reinforce that but the article still makes me want to be part of the area again.

Posted by Sandy Orr on March 9,2010 | 10:58 AM

"Perhaps because of my Catholic upbringing and all the rules it imposed, I rolled back into my home state expecting it to be repressed and unimaginative..."

I agree with Kenny (above). Why does Ms. Henley feel the need to make a gratuitous slam against the Catholic church in the middle of a travel article? Would the editors of this magazine even consider printing a statement like, "Despite my Jewish upbringing, I'm not much of a bargain hunter," or "Even though I was raised as a Muslim, I'm a peaceful person"? Such bigoted statements as those and Ms. Henley's have no place in a supposedly thoughtful publication.

Posted by Christina Cary on March 2,2010 | 07:02 PM

I will need to go out and get the issue of Smithsonian right away. I was blown away by the intricate descriptions and nuances of life here in the "rural" setting (that is in demographic terms). Except for two different transplants to Illinois, I have been a lifelong Hoosier. I teach art in West Lafayette, got two degrees from Purdue University and maintain life in the country with gardens and canning quilting and visits to arts events and businesses. Now I expose my grandchildren to the State Park, the Art Museums and the Battlefield at Battle Ground, which is also my address. I hope to meet Patricia Henley, and Bravo to this way of life.

Posted by Juanita Linn on February 15,2010 | 02:04 PM

What a great article that makes me home sick. I was born and raised in Fowler (North on 52 approx 25 miles). I went in the Army when I was 18, spent over 19 years in Europe - and when it came to retiring from the Army and finding another job, the Lafayette area was first on my list. Unfortunately, all of the skill sets you learn in the Army won't buy me a cup of coffee in that area. I was stuck with finding a job that makes decent money here in Leavenworth, KS. It has been a great alternative. Every time I go back to visit relatives, I take 72/74 thru Illinois and once I cross the State Line, I have Pizza King Pizza on speed dial. That's a great little chain.

Thanks Ms. Henley for the great article.

Posted by Christopher Guimond on February 15,2010 | 10:23 AM

I grew up in Lafayette and left the area when I graduated from Purdue in 1960. Since then have lived in California, Connecticut, and the Washington DC area before coming back to Indiana near Ft. Wayne. I have fond memories of many things others have commented about....McCords (my Dad always called it Glatz's), the Frozen Custard by Columbian Park, Old Jeff and the rivalry with West Lafayette, the nearly week long basketball sectionals, Victory Varieties after home Purdue Football games, and much else. Now in our 'Golden Years' we have come back to live in the area and yes its in West Lafayette. Thanks Patricia for your article. While much has changed there is also much that has not. The Lafayette's are a great place to be.

Bill Weinhardt

Posted by Bill Weinhardt on February 13,2010 | 09:24 PM

Do you remember the gourmet store The Eight Mice? It was located in Market Square Shopping Center and operated as "Indiana's largest gourmet store". The second level was a restaurant and cooking school. Rick Bayless and Yan (of Yan Can Cook) were among the celebrity chefs.

Posted by joanne Fortune on February 13,2010 | 07:51 PM

To Kenny who posted above:

Your comments capture perfectly why a lot of people who were born and raised in Tippecanoe County (like me) left and only come back sporadically. Pathetic moral bullies still a dime a dozen.

Congrats to the Smithsonian for publishing this great piece by Patricia Henley, a wonderful writer, a great teacher, and a credit to her community.

Posted by Apostate on February 12,2010 | 12:30 PM

It was a very enjoyable article of a town and state that we don't hear much about. Just one clarification. The Mexican bakery "cookies" are actually called sweet bread (pan dulce) and are excellent with hot chocolate or coffee. Thanks again for a wonderful description of a small town.

Posted by Maria Lessie Correa on February 12,2010 | 09:12 AM

I grew up in Indianapolis and thought it to be a 'dull'town (which is no longer true--it's outstanding) We have lived here since my husbands' retirement from the Us. Air Force in '56 We raised two girls--and except for my husband and myself (Butler Univ. grads)--aunts, uncles, my husbands' dad, cousins, our daughters and son-in-laws as well as a grand-daughter are all Purdue graduates. A really fine University! We lived in the 'country for 19 years on top of a hill in the midst of a woods with all sorts of animals and birds, but are now retired to a wonderful retirement community "Westminister'
Every year in Lafayette has been just super as there is so much offered both in culture, education, a zoo, Purdue sports and Convo's etc. Nothing lacks in Lafayette.
I have told my family when I am too old to do much else to just take me over to Purdue and place me on a bench where I can sit and observe those delightful students! Yea rah Lafayette! (Ye rah Drew Brees--quarterback behind the super bowl win this year!)

Posted by Dottie Bundy on February 11,2010 | 05:44 PM

for 70 years I have lived in both Lafayettes....we lived next to a frat which had a fire and I remember taking in boys with singed eyebrows and in scivvies and bedding them in our big old house whereever we could...I was in 2nd or 3rd grade at the time....I had to walk thru campus to get to elem. school...I remember West Side HS was small but fun and was in tears when my family moved to the hated Lafayette....but then discovered the special things about the city...after school my girl friend would and I would go to Ed and Dicks for ice cream....Glatz's for candy or a salad....and we always gathered at the drug store across the street much to the chargrin of the owner....movies at the Lafayette or Mars or Luna....or horse operas at the Arc for fun I became a stanch fan of Jeff sports thru HS....For 20 years my husband and I wintered in Florida but now stayed home this year and am enjoying Lafayette once again....We had 4 sons graduate from Purdue....2 with Masters and now have a Grandaughter there...Love Lafayette

Posted by Virginia Rouse on February 9,2010 | 07:05 PM

While I regarded Ms. Henley’s story on Lafayette well written, informative and entertaining, I wonder aloud why she feels the need to insult the Catholic Church. Her comments about “Catholic upbringing” and its relationship to repression and lacking imagination seem to echo the cheap shots fashionable authors seem to relish. It is unfortunate that Ms. Henley missed the meaning of Christian life and the associated freedom from worldly anxiety. So much can be accomplished with the peace of mind that Christ gives to all believers that realize the meaning of life.

Posted by Kenny on February 7,2010 | 09:25 AM

It was interesting to read about the city of my youth. I was born in Home Hospital in Lafayette and lived on Northwestern Avenue in West Lafayette until the age of fourteen so the article stirred up many memories from my youth. My friends and I would go to the movies in downtown Lafayette, stop at the candy store and go for the long walk over the Wabash and back into West Lafayette. The winters always seemed cold and the snow was deep but my family had strong roots in West Lafayette since my mother and brother graduated from Purdue and my grandfather was a director for the University. The town left an indelible mark on memory and sense of place. Now I call New York City home but I still remember the city with great fondness.

Posted by Jim Abbett on February 6,2010 | 01:12 PM

Oh man! I attended Purdue from 1979 - 1983 and your comments about the state park, downtown Lafayette, the train depot and the river brought back so many memories. I was raised way up in the northwest corner of the state and live there now, and those of us from "da region" who attended Purdue were usually thought of as way too sophisicated and loud, because we grew up in "greater Chicagoland".

I still stop in West Lafayette every now and again to buy beads for my jewelry and books for my shelves from Vons on State Street as I pass through on my way to Kentucky and points south. I make a point of crossing the river and going through Lafayette to get back out to the expressway. Its nice seeing the town grow and change, yet stay the same. I have always loved the place I called home for 4 years.

Thanks for your story, I loved it.

Posted by C.S.Stone on February 6,2010 | 12:26 PM

I lived in Lafayette during graduate school and came to love it; I lived in a formerly grand Victorian mansion on 9th St. that had been carved into eight eccentric apartments just up the hill from downtown. It was wonderful coming across this article reminding me of some of the good things about the city and informing me of some of the news ones. Patricia Henley is a great writer (I second the recommendation of Hummingbird House), great teacher, and wonderful person.

Posted by Rebecca Shapiro on February 4,2010 | 10:09 PM

Mr. Haberer, you might want to double check Purdue's history. The university's media department confirmed that it has connections to 10 Nobel prize winners. Thank you for your interest.

Posted by Lyn Garrity on February 3,2010 | 04:28 PM

What a great article MS Henley. Lafayette is certainly a unique place to live. I came here from Baltimore, Maryland, after spending 26 years away from Indiana (born and grew up in Rochester IN), living all over the USA and the world while in the Air Force. I moved here in 1996 and have lived in two historic buildings in downtown Lafayette, along with a one hundred year old house on Jackson Street. I finally decided this was my home and I was here to stay, and built a new house on the east side of town in 2004. Lafayette grabs at your heart, something I hadn't expected.

Posted by Ralph Mull on February 2,2010 | 03:40 PM

Boiler Up! Most students hate this place because its in the middle of nowhere, but there is something about this place that still keeps people here. I too graduated from Purdue a couple of years ago, I love the quiet summers and lazy afternoons. The lack of big city traffic and diverse population makes this place so friendly and heart warming. Surprisingly many important and famous people come here to talk and perform, from the Dalai Lama to General Colin Powell. Plays such as Hairspray to Lion King. Performances by David Copperfield, John Mayer, Vienna Boy's Choir, and Lady GaGa to name a few. You would mistaken this place to be a big metropolis by looking at the performances alone, but this is just a college town in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by corn fields, something all college kids love to say to their friends. I too miss this place, it has a special place in my heart.

Posted by mike on February 1,2010 | 10:46 PM

This is indeed a lovely article, that made me feel good. We came here in 1971, where I joined the Department of Political Science. It took a while for Rose, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, to get used to quiet Lafayette/West Lafayette. In fact, it was the silence that kept her awake at night. Also, there was no New York Times delivery, nor any bagels. But there was then a lively cultural life, especially through the Purdue University Convocations. How things have changed! All the positive, lovely things said about our area are true, except for one thing. Purdue University has only one Nobel Laureate to its credit. Herbert Brown, of blessed memory, who was in the Chemistry Department--NOT 10 (1) as stated in the article. I point this out only for the purposes of historical accuracy.

Joseph Haberer

Posted by Joe and Rose Haberer on February 1,2010 | 03:58 PM

Patricia, your article struck a chord with me. Arriving here from New York City in 1976, I wept every evening for a year. After a brief period of adjustment (10 years or so), the pace of life and the relationships I formed finally saturated my consciousness - I started to love Lafayette/West Lafayette, much as you do. I still enjoy my forays to the coasts, but I'm grateful to return to a sane, affordable and interesting world in - of all places - the midwest!

Posted by Hope Gulker on January 30,2010 | 01:46 PM

I was born in Lafayette and grew up in a small town nearby. After being away for more than twenty years, I returned in 1992. I continue to marvel at the diverse culture, people, businesses and economic opportunities in this community.

It was very enjoyable to open the February 2010 issue and see my hometown featured for the whole world to see.

Bernie Kroll

Posted by Bernie Kroll on January 28,2010 | 10:43 AM

This article captures the experience of living here quite vividly. I'd also list among Lafayette's many attributes its first rate Catholic schools.

Posted by Paula Leverage on January 28,2010 | 10:07 AM

Dear Patricia -
Thank you for writing so beautifully about my hometown. After years of roaming I'm now a traitor living in Bloomington, but travel north to Lafayette every chance I get. You captured the rush I feel every time I step into McCord's, Von's, the Knickerbocker, the Long Center and many other favorite haunts.
To all -
As an English student at Purdue in the late 90s I was on the wait list for Patricia's class - she was so popular I never got in. I highly recommend her novel "Hummingbird House."

Posted by Nicole Brooks on January 28,2010 | 07:56 AM

Ms.Henley,
Thank you so much for all of the kind words about our wonderful city. I really enjoyed your article, it backs up a statement that I use quite often and that is "I have no reason to want to leave". I've lived here all of my 46 years and have loved every minute of it, sometimes wishing I could relive my high school days at our local Catholic high school. It broke my heart when my oldest child graduated from St.Joe's college and decided she wanted to live in Indianapolis.
I've traveled to Mexico, Hawaii and recently Europe. As nice as those places are, I'm always anxious to return to my "Lafayette" !!! Again, Thank you and God Bless

Posted by Randy Strong on January 27,2010 | 07:41 PM

Ms. Henley, we share much in common. Not the least of which was, what I describe as, over-arching desire to re-write 'Texas In My Rear View Mirror', for any destination away from Hoosierville.

Oh, but I do -so- understand your passion for 'uneven ground'.

However, the wisdom of 'never saying never' echos oft amid the cornfields of our homeland. There are far worse places to be than Hoosierville.

These days I no longer groan so much as I have grown to love the Home Ground.

Posted by Les Booth on January 27,2010 | 04:21 PM

The picture of downtown Lafayette featured one of the towns cornerstones ... McCord Candy. My Uncle Ivey started working there as a young man and eventually bought the store. Going to the movies and then to McCords was a big thing in the 1940s and 1950s.

Posted by Bill Gullion on January 27,2010 | 12:38 PM

A year after college I was still doddling around Lafayette living in a historic building downtown. All of a sudden I felt like a canned sardine and decided I was outta there! I am closing on a beautiful home in Lafayette tomorrow, and can't wait to be part of the community and events that I took for granted. You never know what you are missing 'til you're gone. There is nothing like driving down country roads with the window down, listening to great music, a smile from ear to ear, the aromas of agriculture, and the sense of peace it all brings. I am grateful for the festivals and enrichment that the community arranges and supports.

Thank you for the beautiful article!

Posted by Cool McGee on January 27,2010 | 11:22 AM

As a Lafayette native and close observer or its changes, I would like to add a footnote to this excellently written article. Downtown owes much of its current vitality to railroad relocation, a 30-year effort that moved three sets of train tracks off city streets and into a corridor where trains can come and go without holding up commerce or endangering lives at 40 grade crossings. This project, massive for a community this size, wouldn't have happened without a $200M assist from Uncle Sam and patient, bipartisan leadership, particularly from former Mayor James Riehle (Democrat, now deceased) and retired Congressman John Myers, R-Covington. Good work, gentlemen!

Posted by David Smith on January 27,2010 | 11:17 AM

Dear Ms. Henley,

Thanks for telling your story of choosing to stay in Lafayette, IN. Your words captured my own story, coming here in 1979 as an accompanying spouse of a Purdue professor and not believing how flat the fields along the interstate are. I quickly unloaded the chip I brought on my shoulder, however, and found this to be a truly special place to live and raise a family. When the marriage dissolved and my former husband moved to the east coast, I chose to remain here. When I retired a couple of years ago and my daughter tried valiantly to convince me to move to Boston so that I could be closer to her and my four grandchildren, I pondered if I could leave all that had become important to me here over the past thirty years. It didn't take long to realize that this is home, a place I cherish and find fulfillment every day!

Posted by Susan Smith on January 27,2010 | 09:20 AM

Dear Patricia,

I was in a creative writing class that you taught several years ago at Purdue. I thoroughly enjoyed it as I enjoyed your article. I'm still working at Purdue and agree that the Lafayette area is a good place to live.

Posted by Judi Yost on January 27,2010 | 08:26 AM

Dear Ms. Henley: I enjoyed your article so much. I lived in Lafayette from '63 - '67, when the jazz clubs of San Francisco won out in my case. My husband taught in the Art Department at Purdue, and we lived in a grand old house (since demolished) at 8th and Columbia on the east side. I couldn't say I missed Lafayette when I left, but over the years I have come to appreciate how much the University provided for residents. I could attend concerts there I couldn't afford in California ever. I look back with fondness on my years there.

Posted by Judy Maestas on January 27,2010 | 08:22 AM

Ms. Henley has described so wonderfully many of the qualities of the Greater Lafayette,IN area which, over the past 28 years, have become near and dear to my heart. I'd like to add to those she has already mentioned, the wonderful public schools in the area. Thanks, Patricia, for a delightful essay.

Posted by Vera Weiser on January 26,2010 | 07:28 PM

What a great article about LayFlat's. But, don't forget the wonderful year round Mosey's, LayFlats Arts and Music Festivle, and all other events this town has to offer.

http://www.layflatsfestival.com/
http://www.lafayettechamber.com/
http://lafcal.com/

Posted by ChrisTopher Dick on January 26,2010 | 03:12 PM

Enjoyed the article very much. Went to Grad School at Purdue and lived in lafayette. Miss both terribly.

Posted by Andy on January 25,2010 | 10:29 PM

Dear Ms. Henley, I, too love West Lafayette/Lafayette In. The people are caring and friendly and are surprisingly diverse. I intend to go to the Thai Essence next weekend, attend the Kronos Quartet concert and see the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Did I tell you that I love Big Ten basketball and football also.
Thanks for choosing to stay in Lafayette, In and learning to appreciate its wonderful qualities and people. Sonya Margerum, former Mayor of West Lafayette.

Posted by Sonya Margerum on January 25,2010 | 12:31 PM




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