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Louisville Historical Museum Dept. of Library & Museum Services City of Louisville, Colorado May 2006; updated June 2015 Ili: Cityr Om Louisville COLORADO • SINCE 1878 940 Main St., Louisville, Colorado Legal description: Lot 12, Block 1, Original Old Town Louisville Date of Construction: circa 1900 Summary: Two families owned this property for a combined total of almost 75 years: the Oberding/Raplere family and the Walters family. It is one of about fourteen remaining historic residences in the five downtown blocks of Main Street have been converted to solely business or government usage, as part of a practice that many would say adds to the character of Main Street. Establishment of Original Louisville and Discussion of Date of Construction This property is within the northern boundary of the original "Plat of the Town of Louisville." Louis Nawatny, who established the town in 1878, transferred the property at 940 Main Street to Peter Murphy in 1880. Sanborn fire insurance maps, which are available for the center of Louisville for the years 1893, 1900, and 1908, were checked for this report, but the property in question is just beyond the area shown on these maps. The Boulder County Assessor card dated 1948 gave 1900 as the estimated date of construction, but noted in 1948 that the age of the building was "48+," indicating that it could have been constructed before 1900. (Also, the County records show that there were owners of the property for over twenty years prior to when the house is stated to have been built in 1900, so an original part of the house could have even been constructed prior to 1900.) The Boulder County website, however, gives 1927 as the date of construction for the main building on the property. Boulder County records have been found to be in error with respect to the construction dates of historic buildings in Louisville, so other evidence needs to be looked to, particularly in a case like this in which Boulder County has given two different dates of construction. Significantly, the historical survey of this property from 2000 gave 1900, not 1927, as the estimated date of construction. (The 2000 survey concluded, "The [1900] date may not be precise, but it is probably accurate within a few years.") Also, the 1904 Louisville directory