Historic Preservation Commission Agenda and Packet 2016 02 08

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1800 Plaza Drive, Louisville, Colorado According to the Boulder County Assessor's website, the property at 1800 Plaza Drive is owned by Michael Schonbrun & Susan Juroe and occupies "Lot 3 Louisville Plaza 2" in Louisville. The County Assessor's records state that the house was built in 1910. This date has been corroborated by other sources. . The accompanying photos and map are from the collection of the Louisville Historical Museum. Northern Colorado Coal Mining Strike of 1910 -1914 and the Construction of this Building The building at 1800. Plaza Drive was constructed in 1910. Because of the purpose for which it was built and what it was used for, this structure represents a historic period in Colorado and labor history. It is certainly one of the last remaining mine structures (that is not a mining camp house) from the coal mines of northern Colorado, of which there were 163. This building is discussed in, and photos of it appear in, the book Once a Coal Miner: The Story of Colorado's Northern Coal Fields (Pruett Publishing, 1989) by Phyllis Smith; the book The Louisville Story (1978) by Carolyn Conarroe; and the film Louisville(1994) about the history of the City, produced by the City of Louisville. This report draws extensively on these sources for information about the labor conflict that relates to this building. Smith writes that in 1910, coal miners in Colorado's Northern Coal Fields, which ektended from Marshall to Firestone in Boulder and Weld. Counties, earned only about $3.10 a day and the exact amount was determined by the tons of coal that they actually mined. After months of tension and negotiations, during which the union's demands for a pay increase were turned down, a strike was called'in April 1910. It has been estimated that 2700 miners in the Northern Fields went on strike. Smith goes on: Thus started the longest coal strike in Colorado history — four years and eight months.... [F]or the northern field, most union men were out of work for almost five years. During that time, street fights, knifmgs, and sudden gunfire became commonplace There were mysterious explosions and unexplained fires. Picket strikers fought with children of scab workers. At the end, almost five years later, the full -scale industrial war would be discussed by United States citizens and would finally come to the attention of such absentee mine owners as the reclusive businessman ... John D. Rockefeller, Jr.