Lafayette City Map Poster

About Lafayette

Lafayette is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 9.1 square miles (23 km2), all of it land. Lafayette is located on what was once Rancho Las Vositas, which was owned by José Joaquín Moraga and his family between 1820 and 1870. The first business in Lafayette was established in 1882 by J.P.. In 1923, Shell Oil Company built an oil refinery in unincorporated Martinez (which would later become part of East Contra Costa County). A second area refinery, together with the Shell facilities formed a significant petroleum processing center for the central San Francisco Bay region; however both refineries were closed by 1982 due to declining demand as California’s refineries converted from crude oil production to refining lighter products such as gasoline and diesel fuel.[citation needed] The 2010 United States Census reported that Lafayette had a population of 24,285 people.