1034 LaFarge Ave History - Laserfiche WebLink

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Di Francia Family Ownership, 1909-1922 By a deed recorded in 1909, Eusebio Giuseppe "Joe" Di Francia (often referred to as E.J. Di Francia) purchased these lots. He was also the owner of a brick home at 1045 La Farge, where he lived and raised his family, and of the three houses at 1013, 1021, and 1029 La Farge. He was a prominent Italian business owner in Louisville. E.J. Di Francia appears to have been living in Louisville by 1891 and opened his first saloon on Front Street at around that time. (The Di Francia name has had such different spellings and usages as DiFrancia, deFrancia, De Francia, Di Franzia, Di Frangia, Di Frangio, DiFrenchy, Francia, and Franzia.) E.J. Di Francia was born in Italy in 1863; he is believed to have come from Castiglione di Carovilli, Isernia, in Italy. He came to the U.S. in 1883 and married Marie Di Domenico, who was a young widow, in 1890. They had seven children — six daughters and one son. In circa 1904, E.J. Di Francia opened the saloon, Di Francia's, in the historic building that has the address of 740 Front in Louisville and is the current location of the restaurant called 740 Front. A story from descendants of the Di Francia family is that 1013, 1021, and 1029 La Farge were built by E.J. Di Francia for three of his daughters for when they would grow up and marry. Evidence does backup this story, though only one daughter married and lived in one of the houses prior to the death of the father in 1918. Evidence indicates that the houses brought in rental income. In addition, it has been found that he also purchased other residential properties in Louisville, including this house, 1034 La Farge, across the street from the others. It seems that it is very possible that his goal was to acquire houses for all six of his daughters, not just three of them. Since it is known that 1045 La Farge was the family's residence, it seems likely that 1034 La Farge was a rental during Di Francia's period of ownership. Unfortunately, the identities of the renters are not known. E.J. Di Francia passed away in January 1918. His children were between the ages of about 10 and 27 at the time of his death. His death in 1918 came soon after the beginning of Prohibition in Colorado in 1916. These events placed a financial burden on his widow and their children. Sadly, his widow had to sell all of the properties in Louisville that he had purchased. Records indicate that she began to do this in 1921. Maria Di Francia sold 1034 La Farge in 1922. Rosser Family Ownership, 1922-1932 In 1922, Lewis Rosser (1898-1977) and Katherine Dionigi Rosser (1899-1991) purchased the property at what is now 1034 La Farge. Louisville directories and the 1930 census records show that the family did reside in the house. At the time of the 1930 census, the family consisted of Lewis (sometimes written as Louis), Katherine, and their children, Katherine (age 13), Gerald 3