As of , the city's population was 25, Before the colonization of the region by Spain, Lafayette and its vicinity were inhabited by the Saclan tribe of the indigenous Bay Miwok. Ohlone also populated some of the areas along Lafayette Creek. These initial contacts developed into conflict, with years of armed struggle, including a battle on what is currently Lafayette soil in between the Saclan and the Spanish, and eventually resulting in the subjugation of the native population.
Most of what is currently Lafayette was given as a Mexican land grant, Rancho Acalanes to Candelario Valencia in The name Acalanes seems to have come from the name of a native village in the area, Ahala-n. American settlement started with the arrival of Elam Brown from St. Joseph, Missouri , [ 10 ] in The settlement continued to steadily grow due to its proximity to San Francisco; starting with Brown's group of 18 settlers, by the census in , 76 people were listed as living in the area.
One of the original settlers in Brown's party was Milo J. He built a hotel in near Plaza Park and in was named postmaster of the Acelanus post office, an alternate spelling of the original land grant, Acalanes.
The post office was short-lived, closing the following year. A school began in [ 15 ] in a one-room schoolhouse, taught by a year-old Kentucky migrant, Benjamin Shreve. In , a new schoolhouse was built to accommodate the increasing number of students; this building still stands today. On March 2, , the LaFayette post office was established by the U.
(mh=3X3tcQBy19l6dpka)11.jpg "Woman in Lafayette")
Postal Service. The official document giving this exact date was supplied to the Lafayette Historical Society in by the Historical Division of the U.
