Lafayette's growth continued for decades: by 1914, there were two banks, two poolrooms, three restaurants, four hotels, a "picture
show," a bakery, a candy store, local newspaper, a brick works, and a pickle factory. The Rocky Mountain Fuel Company kept the mines and
company-owned stores running despite labor conflicts that occasionally flared into violence, and Lafayette also had a power station that
provided electricity to Boulder, Louisville, Longmont, and Fort Collins.
As natural gas gradually replaced coal as one of the fuels of choice, Lafayette's coal mines began cutting production and then closing.
The last Lafayette mine, the Black Diamond, closed in 1956, though many Lafayette miners continued to work at the Eagle Mine in Erie until
it too shut down in 1979. Lafayette's economy became dominated by agriculture once more during this period, but shifted yet again to
a variety of commercial enterprises when rapid growth in Boulder and Denver brought growth to Lafayette as well.
