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Louisville Historical Museum <br />Department of Library & Museum Services <br />City of Louisville, Colorado <br />March 2015 <br />LCityof <br />Louisville <br />CQ1.ORADO SINC1: l h7S <br />The Bella Vista & Scenic Heights Subdivisions <br />Year of plat of Bella Vista: 1957 <br />Year of plat of Scenic Heights: 1959 <br />By the 1950s, it had become difficult for people who had grown up in Louisville to <br />purchase a house in the town due to the lack of available housing. Louisville had a <br />family -oriented culture, yet people who had grown up in Louisville were often not able <br />to continue to live in the town. Louisville residents have said that "there was nothing" in <br />terms of housing stock at the time, and "there was no place for people to live." The <br />Fischer subdivision, platted in 1948, is believed to have been the only previous modern <br />subdivision. Many would agree that Louisville would be a different community today if <br />members of its longtime families hadn't been able to stay. <br />The successes in the early 1960s of the Bella Vista subdivision south of downtown and <br />the Scenic Heights north of downtown were due to the efforts of Louisville businessmen <br />who recognized this need for more housing. Almost all of the men involved in these two <br />developments grew up in Louisville and were veterans of World War II. <br />The Bella Vista development had close connections with Steinbaugh's Lumber Co. on <br />Front Street. Two of the partners, Herbert Steinbaugh and Glenn Steinbaugh, were the <br />grandsons of Steinbaugh's founder J.J. Steinbaugh. The other two partners were Joe <br />Madonna and his brother-in-law, James McDaniel. They named four streets in Bella <br />Vista for their wives. <br />Carmen "Carmie" Scarpella was the person most closely identified with the <br />establishment and development of Scenic Heights. He was in partnership first with Joe <br />Colacci, then with Charles Hindman. <br />Advertising for both subdivisions promoted the mountain views. The views of the <br />mountains were likely not as blocked by additional construction as they are today. The <br />tendency to promote the mountain views also shows a shift towards changing ideas of <br />what was valued by home buyers in the late 1950s and early 1960s. <br />1 <br />