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1 <br /> <br />Louisville Historical Museum <br />Department of Library & Museum Services <br />City of Louisville, Colorado <br />February 2015 <br /> <br /> <br />1401 Cannon Unit A History <br />Legal Description: “Unit A 1401 Cannon Condominiums”; formerly Lot 6, Block 8, Caledonia <br />Place <br />Year of Construction: circa 1900 (see discussion below) <br />Summary: This house in the Louisville neighborhood of Little Italy was the home of the <br />Rizzi/DiGiacomo family for nearly 100 years. Frank Rizzi, who grew up in the house, was mayor <br />of Louisville for many of the years when it transitioned from being a coal mining town to a <br />modern city. <br />Development of Caledonia Place <br />The subdivision in which 1401 Cannon is located is Caledonia Place. It was platted and recorded <br />with Boulder County in 1890 by James Cannon, Jr., Howard Morris, and Henry Brooks. It was <br />the fourth addition to original Louisville, which had been platted in 1878. <br />This particular section of Caledonia Place, located northeast of the core downtown, is still <br />known as Little Italy. It covers Griffith Street from the railroad tracks to Highway 42, as well as <br />Harper Street and the cross streets of Front and Cannon and the west side of Highway 42. The <br />separation of the neighborhood from the rest of the town due in part to the railroad tracks led <br />to the formation of an especially tightknit, close neighborhood and cultural practices that <br />endured for decades, such as winemaking by many residents using grapes that were delivered <br />directly into the neighborhood by truck. This area was attractive to coal miners and their <br />families for its proximity to coal mines to the east and northeast of downtown Louisville. <br />It was members of the Italian DiGiacomo/James family who at one time owned many or most of <br />the lots at some point and who played a large role in the development of the neighborhood <br />(James being the American version of the name DiGiacomo). This led to many of the families in <br />Little Italy being of Italian heritage, with many of them actually being related to one another.