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The Niehoff Family and Louisville's Early Years The building at 717 Main was first the home of the family of Charles and Amelia Niehoff. "Niehoff" is the correct spelling of their surname. However, it has been misspelled in various records as "Neihoff," "Neahoff," "Neuhoff," and probably in other ways as well. The plaque on the front of the building has the name misspelled as "Neihoff." Charles Bernhardt Niehoff was born in August 1840 and is believed to have come from Berlin, Germany to the United States in about 1867 as a young man. (In records, he was sometimes referred to as the German "Carl.") He soon came to Hermann, Gasconade County, Missouri. Hermann was established in the 1800s by German immigrants and is part of the "Missouri Rhineland," an area of vineyards and wineries. Records suggest that it was not long before he married Amelia Wright. She was born in Hermann to parents who had come from Germany. (In the 1880 and 1900 census records, her name is spelled as "Emilia" and "Emilie.") The 1900 census records have her birth year as 1847, while her gravestone gives 1844. Charles and Amelia's first children were said to be born in Hermann in the same house in which Amelia had been born. Their first children were Barnhardt or Bernhardt, later given as Ben, born in 1869; Jessie, born in 1870; Kate, born in 1872; and Annie, born in about 1874. The Niehoff family came to Denver in 1876. The 1876 directory for Denver shows Charles Niehoff to have been a driver, which in later years their daughter Jessie recalled as involving the driving of a horse- drawn streetcar. He also worked in Denver as an engineer for the Zang Brewery. Philip Zang, its founder, was a native of Germany. By all accounts, the family came to the community that would soon become Louisville in 1877. Coal had been discovered, and Charles C. Welch opened the Welch Mine that year. Records indicate that Welch hired Niehoff first as a fireman, then as engineer at the Welch Mine a few months later. Niehoff went on to work as an engineer at other mines in the Louisville area, including the Industrial Mine. In 1878, Louis Nawatny established the town of Louisville and began to sell lots. Boulder County online records show that the deed transferring Lot 17 from Louis Nawatny to Amelia "Neihoff" was recorded in 1879. (It may have been effective earlier, as at that time deeds were sometimes not recorded immediately.) In 1885, a deed transferring part of Lot 18 to Charles "Neihoff" was recorded. By coming to Louisville at its beginning, the Niehoffs were joining with a community with other German families. A newspaper person interviewed Jessie Niehoff Austin as a woman of age 86 about her early years in Louisville. The ensuing 1956 Louisville Times article refers to the family having lived temporarily in the area at the southeast corner of what would become Main and Spruce. This was while a dugout was built for them at what is now 717 Main. The article states: In a short while the dugout, about 15 by 20 feet, was ready for the family to move in. Then later it was portioned off into four tiny rooms. The hardwood floor in the dugout was still good when Mrs. Austin's family dug down to it about 18 years ago while putting in a furnace. The father then build [sic] a two -room house above the dugout and a cellar. Other two - room houses went up as more family came to work in the mine and had to have places 2