 ary and Lafayette Miller came to Colorado with a wagon party in 1863 and started running a stage stop on the Denver-Cheyenne route (roughly today's Highway 287). Lafayette died of heat stroke in 1878, leaving Mary with a large ranch and five children. When Mary found a seam of coal on her property, she mapped out the plat for a town adjacent to it and named it Lafayette, after her late husband. In the years to follow, Miller helped organize one of Lafayette's first banks, serving as its president for several years, as well as establishing its first school and a church (now the Mary Miller Theater at 300 East Simpson). A historical mural at the Lafayette Public Library on Baseline Road depicts the Millers and a mining crew, two of the driving forces in the creation of this town. At the Carolyn Holmberg Preserve, the Mary Miller Trail commemorates her historical importance. |
