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Women have not always had the freedom and rights they have today. It was difficult for women to make their mark in history but those who tried made an impression that lasts to this day. Mary Miller and Josephine Roche were two women from Lafayette who made history before they were even given the right to vote. Not only when they lived was it a time of inequality for all but Lafayette was also a coal mining town where women were the minority. This did not stop Miller and Roche from making history and coal miners across the country are thankful for their accomplishments.

Miller and her husband Lafayette brought their children to the area, now Lafayette, to begin a farming life. Coal miners soon came to the area and the Millers opened a butcher shop in Boulder. Unfortunately, Lafayette died in 1878 forcing Mary to move her children back onto the farm. Mary and Lafayette had six children together who she now had to care for on her own. Luckily for Miller, coal was found on the farm and answer her prayers. The widowed mother of six struck coal and started a new era for the territory. Four years later Miller designated 150 acres to being the new town which she named after her late husband, Lafayette. The area became a booming town for the area with Miller still as their leader. After the town burned down in 1900 Miller opened a Miller Bank, later Lafayette Bank in 1902. Miller was named president of the bank and at the time was the first and only woman bank president in the world. However, due to bad loans to miners, the bank closed with approximately $90,000 in debt in 1914. After the bank closed, Miller remained devoted to the temperance movement while playing in politics.

Lafayette continued to be a prosperous coal mining town. But not all was peaceful. During the 1910s strikes occurred in rebellion to the ruthless work conditions for miners. Strikes continued through the 20s when an uproar in 1927 killed five Lafayette resident miners in a town just north. After the Columbine Mine Massacre Josephine Roche came to the miners aid. A tutor can help you study more on the strikes and hardships miners went through in the early 1900s. Roche’s father was owner of Rocky Mountain Fuel Company which owned many of the mines in the area. When he passed away, Roche used her inheritance to purchase controlling interest in the company and become president. She then began her crusade in making better working conditions for the miners. Immediately, mines under Roche’s control became the most labor friendly in the United States.

After natural gas replaced coal in the 50s Lafayette’s coal mines closed down. Still the area remains a working community and is now an agriculture based town. Still, the town will not forget the two women to stood out in their male dominated crowd.