Lafayette or La Fayette is an unincorporated community in Linn County, in the U.S. state of Iowa.
In 1845, settler John Nevins built a sawmill in what later became the village of Lafayette.
This mill was later passed down to new owners John Lambert, James Greene, and A. Brenaman, then Fred Notebahn.
[2] By 1856, Lafayette was listed as a town in N.H. Parker's Handbook of Iowa.
[2] In 1871, a coal deposit was discovered near Lafayette; a mining company was established, but proved unprofitable, with the shafts flooded with water and the coal deposit "not exceeding an inch in thickness".