Editing West Lafayette, Ohio (section)

==History==
West Lafayette was laid out in 1850 by Robert Shaw and William Wheeler.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcoshoct00hill | title=History of Coshocton County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, 1740-1881 | publisher=A. A. Graham | author=Graham, Albert Adams | year=1881 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofcoshoct00hill/page/537 537]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/historicalcollec00hunt | title=Historical Collections of Coshocton County, Ohio | publisher=R. Clarke & Company | author=Hunt, William Ellis | year=1876 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/historicalcollec00hunt/page/5 5]}}</ref> In 1855, the [[Steubenville and Indiana Railroad]] was built through the new town.  The line became known as the [[Panhandle Route]] and was operated in the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mangus|first1=Michael|last2=Herman|first2=Jennifer L.|title=Ohio Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bndxn4Qlt4EC&pg=PA573|year=2008|publisher=North American Book Dist LLC|isbn=978-1-878592-68-2|page=573}}</ref> system and currently by the [[Columbus and Ohio River Railroad]] ([[Ohio Central Railroad System]]).  Tragedy struck this track on September 11, 1950, when the crack passenger train "[[Spirit of St. Louis (train)|Spirit of St. Louis]]" hit another train carrying 600 men of the 109th Field Artillery Battalion of the Pennsylvania National Guard.<ref>"Remembering the young men who died," Coshocton Tribune, Sep 11, 2009</ref>  33 men were killed as a result of the accident.  A memorial was placed near the site of the accident in 1990.  A 105mm howitzer is at the memorial also, commemorating the manufacture of 105mm shells at Moore Enamelling across the tracks during WWII.

The village was once known as the "Enamel Center of the World".<ref>The 1985 History of Coshocton County Ohio, page 23</ref> Before plastics were invented, steel vessels covered with a ceramic called [[enamelware]] were the norm in American homes.  In 1903 the Lafayette Stamping and Enameling Co. was founded. Moore Enameling and Jones Metal also manufactured enamelware.

The West Lafayette Homecoming was founded in 1950 and continues today as the "Hometown Festival."<ref>"New queens crowned at West Lafayette Hometown Festival," Coshocton Tribune, August 7, 2009</ref>