620 Grant Ave History - Laserfiche WebLink

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According to the Boulder County Assessor's Office website, 620 Grant was constructed in 1905. The date of construction of 1905 was also stated on the 1948 County Assessor card for 620 Grant (and in this case, the informant for the date was the owner who built the house). Boulder County has sometimes been found to be in error with respect to the dates of construction for historic buildings in Louisville. For this reason, other evidence is looked to. In this case, the date of 1905 or 1906 appears likely to be accurate. Although the card states 1905, the deed by which John Harney purchased the lots from the developer was not signed or effective until 1906. For these reasons, the date of construction is assumed to be 1905-06. (It should also be noted that a house is shown as being located on these lots on the 1909 Drumm's Wall Map of Louisville, so it was constructed by that time. The Harney family is also shown to be living in this vicinity in the 1910 federal census records, though they are inexplicably listed as being renters, not owners.) Information about a secondary building on the property appears below. The area south of Pine that covered the streets of Grant and Lincoln was home to more than twelve Eastern European families (mostly Slovaks), creating a small neighborhood with a shared cultural heritage. 620 Grant was one of the households in this neighborhood along with families with the surnames of Waschak, Mudrock, Haszier, Strichko, and Sirokman. Together, John and Katherine Harney had at least eleven children, of whom eight lived to adulthood: Helen, born in 1898; Margaret, born in 1899; Mary, born in 1901; Katherine, born in 1905; Josephine, born about 1907; George, born in 1908; Julia, born in 1909; and Stephen, born in 1915. John and Katherine raised their children in this home. John Harney worked as a coal miner in the Louisville area. He died in 1937 as the result of injuries sustained in the Industrial Mine. Records show that John and Katherine Harney's daughter, Katherine Harney Rock, lived at 620 Grant with her mother and daughter from the 1930s until the 1950s. The following photo and layout of the house are from the 1948 Boulder County Assessor Card. The house was 588 square feet at the time. 2