West Lafayette is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the let in capital of Indianapolis and 113 miles (182 km) southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash River from its sister city, Lafayette. As of the 2020 census, its population was 44,595. It is the most densely populated city in Indiana and is house to Purdue University.

Augustus Wylie laid out a town in 1836 in the Wabash River floodplain south of the gift Levee. Due to regular flooding of the site, Wylie’s town was never built. The present city was formed in 1888 by the mixture of the bordering suburban towns of Chauncey, Oakwood, and Kingston, located upon a bluff across the Wabash River from Lafayette, Indiana. The three towns had been little suburban villages which were directly next to one another. Kingston was laid out in 1855 by Jesse B. Lutz. Chauncey was platted in 1860 by the Chauncey relations of Philadelphia, wealthy house speculators. Chauncey and Kingston formed a municipal processing in 1866 which selected the name “Chauncey”.

The other town of Chauncey remained a little suburban village until Purdue University opened in 1869. In 1871 Chauncey voted to be annexed by Lafayette because it was unable to offer the infrastructure (such as enlarged streets, waterworks, police and flare protection). Lafayette voted against annexing Chauncey because of the tall cost of the many improvements that the village lacked. In May 1888, the town of Chauncey voted to change its state to West Lafayette after a petition signed by 152 electors. By that time, the lump of the academic world was fueling the buildup of the little town. The residence of Purdue University was fixed as “Lafayette, Indiana” until with ease into the twentieth century. West Lafayette never gained a railroad depot and lagged several years at the rear Lafayette in the launch of municipal infrastructure and services. Today, West Lafayette has standard itself as a surgically remove city, with independent facilities and unique neighborhoods Definite from those of its sister city, Lafayette.

In November 2013, the City of West Lafayette certified an annexation that placed much of the Purdue University academic campus and quarters hall system within the recognized boundaries of the municipality for the first time. This progress also included a large section of the US Highway 231 corridor that was before part of unincorporated Tippecanoe County.