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The Old Centennial Mine operated from 1906 until 1931. When the mine closed, the <br />family moved into Louisville and into their new house at 1024 Jefferson. Fred's next <br />endeavor was to open (in 1936) the "New" Centennial Mine, the mine dump of which <br />can still be seen on the north side of Empire Rd. (Highway 42) just west of 287. The Old <br />and New Centennial Mines were probably the most significant and productive Louisville <br />coal mines of the 1920s to the 1950s. The New Centennial Mine closed in 1952. The <br />Nesbit family also operated the State Mine in Erie. <br />Fred and Ruth Nesbit's three children were Fred, Jr., born in 1918; Marjorie Irma, born <br />in 1920; and Phyllis, born in 1928. They all moved to 1024 Jefferson in 1931 and the <br />children grew up in the house. <br />Fred Nesbit, Jr. served as a lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in World War II. Phyllis <br />Nesbit Hawkins provided information on the musical career of her brother, Fred, Jr. for <br />the Winter 2007 issue of the Louisville Historian, available here: <br />http://Iibrary.louisvilleco.gov/Portals/1/pdf/Louisville%20Historian/2007-1 Winter.pdf. <br />He was fortunate to have a talented music teacher, Violette McKenzie, who was <br />credited in her obituary with later having had an impact on the Denver music scene. <br />(Fred's classmates included Richard La Salle, who toured nationally with his band in the <br />1940s and 1950s, and became a composer of scores for movies and television in <br />Hollywood in the 1960s and 1970s, and Melvin Rockley, who started the Rockley Music <br />Center in Lakewood.) Miss McKenzie recognized Fred's talent, approached his parents, <br />and urged them to arrange for Fred to have more formal musical training. Fred became <br />a vocalist in Denver, performing frequently in operas and other theater productions, <br />often as a baritone lead. According to his obituary, he "was a widely known singer and <br />frequently appeared on Denver radio and TV stations, as well as performing in opera," <br />and he also worked as a stock and bond broker. He died in 1971. According to a few <br />different sources, the Nesbits had a baby grand piano that Fred played. It is <br />remembered by a former neighbor that when Fred's friend and classmate, Richard La <br />Salle, would visit his parents, he practiced and composed on the Nesbit piano at 1024 <br />Jefferson, as his own parents didn't have one in their own home. <br />Marjorie Nesbit married Robert Allphin and they lived near her parents (three houses <br />away) at 1000 Jefferson. Bob Allphin worked for his father in auto sales, the Allphin <br />Motor Co. having been located where Chase Bank is located today at 833 Main St. <br />Marjorie Nesbit Allphin died in 1992. <br />Phyllis Nesbit married Vic Hawkins. She passed away in 2012. <br />The following photo of the house is from the 1948 County Assessor Card. (The full card <br />can be viewed online here: http://louisville.pastperfect- <br />online.com/30967cgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=5854BAC8-A15C-4D47-8FDD- <br />3 <br />