WEST LAFAYETTE

city, Tippecanoe county, west-central Indiana, U.S. It lies along the Wabash River (bridged) opposite Lafayette. Founded in 1845 as Kingston, it was later called Chauncey (1866) before being renamed West Lafayette in 1888. Primarily residential, it is the seat of Purdue University (1869). Nearby are the Tippecanoe Battlefield State Memorial and the site of Fort Ouiatanon (1719), the first white settlement in Indiana and a trading and military post controlled at different times by the French, British, and Indians. Inc. 1924. Pop. (1990) city, 25,907; LafayetteWest Lafayette MSA, 130,598.