Lafayette resident urges city to restore historical language, add 200 names to cemetery plaque

Frank Archuleta appeared during public input at the March 18 Lafayette City Council meeting to press the city to adopt his group’s preferred historical language for a cemetery plaque and to include roughly 200 names he says are missing from municipal cemetery records.

Archuleta told the council he and local historians have reviewed the language and that historians from the University of Colorado and other local historians endorsed the wording his group submitted. He said the proposed language documents alleged exclusion of about 200 community members from town cemetery maps and records kept by town clerk Henry Mathias and other clerks and that the proposed plaque should explain the historical context, including, Archuleta said, Klan activity and discrimination in the early‑ to mid‑20th century.

Archuleta said the historical society had agreed to include the 200 names and said the group had tried to combine its language with the historical society’s but that the language ultimately was not included. He asked the council to “embrace our language” and to install the plaque so the community “can move on.” He thanked council and staff for meeting with the group and for reviewing the materials they supplied.

What was said and who spoke - Speaker: Frank Archuleta, resident (public comment). Archuleta described multi‑year research on the Lafayette cemetery and asserted that record‑keeping omitted approximately 200 names. He referenced meetings with historians and historical society staff who, he said, supported his group’s wording.

What the record does and does not show Archuleta stated that records show town clerk Henry Mathias had ties to the Ku Klux Klan and that the cemetery records were not entered into the town’s maps and book. The transcript records the claim as Archuleta’s account; the council took no action on the plaque during the meeting. The council or staff did not record a policy decision or vote on the plaque or the exact text at this meeting.

Next steps Archuleta said he will continue his presentations and presentations to the historical society. The record shows he gave the council and staff a packet of material; staff did not announce a follow‑up action or schedule for formal consideration during the March 18 meeting.