721 Grant Ave History - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Building Moved to Grant Ave. Meanwhile, the Miners Trading Company, a large brick building used for a general merchandise store at the northwest corner of Pine and Main, was a victim of mining subsidence and it experienced heavy damage in the early 1900s, and was eventually condemned and demolished. The operators of this store reportedly asked Dr. Wolfer, who was not only a mine company doctor but was also a real estate developer, to build a large store on his property at the corner of Main and Spruce. Wolfer did so, leading to the construction of the State Mercantile Building that still stands on the site today at 801 Main Street. But first, the existing buildings on the site had to be relocated. By all accounts, this happened in 1905. Wolfer purchased the property at what is today the site of the Chamber of Commerce at 901 Main and moved the one-story Wolfer home (in which he also had his medical offices) to that location. The family moved there and the building was later torn down. In addition, Clarence W. Brown purchased from Wolfer the two-story building located at Main and Spruce and moved it to Grant Avenue, onto property at 721 Grant that Brown purchased in 1904 from Orrin Welch.' Clarence W. Brown was a newspaper editor who came to Louisville from Kansas in 1901, bringing with him newspaper equipment and a press. He started the Louisville -based weekly newspaper called The Black Diamond World that was reportedly in operation between 1901 and 1909. According to a handwritten account by a Wolfer daughter, Nelle Wolfer Willis (1890-1976) about 721 Grant: Our home was on the corner of Main & Spruce. This two story building was part of it (On North). The Post Office was in the Ground Floor & my Dad was postmaster. To enter the Post Office we went thru a screened porch off the kitchen on the North side. There were sleeping rooms upstairs for us four girls. The stairway went up from Dad & Mother's ' Orrin Welch platted the Pleasant Hill Addition in which 721 Grant is located in 1894. He was the half brother of Charles C. Welch, who had been the primary person responsible for the founding of Louisville in 1878. 3