Lahr Apartments’ history dates back to 1831 when John Peterson and John McCormick laid the first building’s foundation. The building was then purchased and converted it into Lafayette’s first hotel called the Wabash House. A German immigrant, John Lahr, acquired the building in 1848 and effectively turned it into the Lahr Hotel. In 1861, Lahr invested $80,000 in building renovations, which transformed the building into a four-story hotel and expanded the occupancy to 100 hotel rooms. The building’s current configuration dates back Lahr’s renovation. However, the building underwent another renovation in 1998 effectively turning Lahr Hotel into apartments.

The Lahr Hotel’s rich history also comes with its share of notable guests. Perhaps the most notable, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, stayed in the Lahr Hotel in 1871 as part of a banquet for U.S. Congressman Godlove Orth and Thomas Underwood. Accompanying the president on the guest list was Vice President Schuyler Colfax and Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton. Mark Twain also stayed in the Lahr Hotel in 1885. Industrialist and original benefactor of Purdue University John Purdue was a regular visitor of the Lahr Hotel, due in part because he had his own residence in the hotel on the second floor. Purdue used the location for meetings to establish Purdue University. Other notable guests include poet and author James Whitcomb Riley, as well as Liberal Republican Party founder and politician Horace Greeley.