920, 924 Main St History - Laserfiche WebLink

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Joe and Rose D'Amato Ownership, 1948-2003 Beginning in about 1948, the house at 924 Main Street became a home for Joe and Rose D'Amato and their children, John and Joan. Joe D'Amato and his brother-in-law, Pete Madonna, started Joe's Fruit Store which they built in about 1948 on the south end of the yard that went with the house. It had the address of 920 Main and is remembered as having been an old-style Italian grocery store that catered to the families of Italian descent in Louisville, and others, for about 55 years. More information about the store at 920 Main appears below. The D'Amato house and store were thus located on the same parcel and are still today located on the same parcel sharing one property legal description. Joe D'Amato (1902-1980) was born in one of the connected towns of Porticello and Santa Flavia in Sicily in 1902 and came to the U.S. in 1921, working first in Wisconsin and then making his way to Louisville, where he is believed to have had relatives. He left for a time to work in other states and returned to Louisville in the early 1930s. In 1936, he married Rose Madonna (1920-2003). She had grown up in Louisville as a member of the Italian John & Marguerite Madonna family. The following is a 1948 photo of 924 Main from the County Assessor card completed in 1948. This is what the house would have looked like during ownership by the Hutchinson/Clarkson/Hancock family, before Joe and Rose D'Amato remodeled it. Despite the fact that it was remodeled to have a greater setback, different layout and roofline, and was surfaced differently, the County did not create a different Assessor card for the building as was the more typical situation in cases where a building was greatly altered. 4