738 Jefferson Ave Historic Survey

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Resource Number: 5BL858 Temporary Resource Number: 157508426005 Louise Gradel had three children together: Lucretia, born 1893; Julian, born 1895; and Orpha, born 1897. In 1899, they were divorced. (It is believed that this was Julian's second divorce.) Lucretia and Julian were living with their father Julian at the time of the 1900 census, and it appears that Louise Gradel took the baby, Orpha. Julian Gradel remarried in 1902 to a widow named Christine Peterson. Christine had been born in 1866. Christine had a daughter who had been born in 1898. According to her descendants, Christine taught at the brick schoolhouse in Louisville that is now the Louisville Center for the Arts at 801 Grant Ave. Both Christine and Julian Gradel died separately in 1911. Julian died of a self inflicted gunshot wound while on a mining expedition in the mountains near Fort Collins. Upon the death of Julian Gradel, Boulder County records indicate his three biological children apparently inherited the property at 738 Jefferson. In 1917 they conveyed the property to their mother Louise Gradel, who had remarried and became Louise Kilhoffer. During this period after the deaths of Julian and Christine Gradel, the house may have been rented out until Louise Gradel Kilhoffer sold it in about 1923. (County property records do not indicate rentals, only ownership.) Louise herself had a colorful personal history. She had three additional children, then was widowed when her second husband, Joseph Kilhoffer, was killed in a coal mine accident. She married for a third time to Alex Lorenzi, who had been her boarder on a ranch near Marshall. She and Lorenzi were caught running a bootlegging operation during Prohibition. Louise's name appears in the property records as having been the owner of a number of properties in the Louisville area. From this evidence, it appears that she came from very humble beginnings and having been a young bride to having three husbands, bearing six children, and owning and selling a large amount of real estate, apparently for investment and rental income. Louise Wattelet Gradel Kilhoffer Lorenzi died in 1942. L'Heureux/Rhoades Ownership, 1923-1927 By 1923, Alexander L'Heureux acquired 738 Jefferson. It is believed that he also went by the name Eugene. He was a coal miner. His wife Vera was the daughter of George and Barbara Rhoades of Louisville. They had three sons: Edwin (born around 1916), Gerald (born around 1918), and Walter (born around 1921). By 1930, the L'Heureux family was living in Denver. Vera's father George Rhoades took ownership of the house from 1926 to 1927. LaCioppa/Ferrari Ownership, 1927-1954 In 1927, Thomas LaCioppa acquired this property. He was a coal miner. Upon his death in 1940 at the age of 75, it appears that the property was passed on to his stepson, Angelo Ferrari, and Angelo's wife, Rachel Zarini Ferrari. However, directories indicate that the Ferraris lived nearby, at 712 Spruce, and may not have lived at 738 Jefferson. It is possible that the house at 738 Jefferson was rented out during the ownership by the Ferraris. Possible renters in the early 1940s were Newton and Minnie Rockley, who were listed as living at 740 Jefferson, and Jennie Milano, who in 1949 and 1951 was listed in the Louisville directory as living at 736 Jefferson. (There are no current addresses of 736 or 740 Jefferson.) Porter Ownership, 1954-2002 Johnnie and Margaret Porter were married in 1947 and acquired this house in 1954. They are listed in directories as living at 738 Jefferson and Johnnie was listed as being a construction worker. He died in 1994. 36. Sources of information: Boulder County "Real Estate Appraisal Card — Urban Master," on file at the Carnegie Library for State and Local History in Boulder, Colorado. Boulder County Clerk & Recorder's Office public records, accessed through http://recorder.bouldercountv.orq Directories of Louisville residents and businesses on file at the Louisville Historical Museum. Census records and other records accessed through www.ancestry.com . Archival materials on file at the Louisville Historical Museum. Boulder Daily Camera newspapers accessed through Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection at www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org . Pettem, Silvia, Behind the Badge: 125 Years of the Boulder, Colorado, Police Department, The Book Lode, 2003 4