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Resource Number: 5BL8028 Temporary Resource Number: NIA Architectural Inventory Form (Page 3 of 5) V. HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS 31. Original use(s): Single Dwelling 32. Intermediate use(s): Single Dwelling 33. Current use(s): Single Dwelling 34. Site type(s): Residence 35. Historical Background This property was initially developed in the late 1800s, and in the years surrounding the turn of the twentieth century, the Joseph Massaro family had their home here. The Massaros were Italian immigrants. Joseph worked in the coal mines, and Mrs. Massaro ran a boardinghouse. In 1902 they took in a young boarder named Michael Forte. Born in Italy in 1872, Forte had immigrated to America in 1892, spending time in New York before heading west to join his two older brothers at Pueblo, Colorado. After arriving in Louisville in 1902, Michael found work as a coal miner, and before long, he also fell in love with the Massaro's daughter, Ora. Michael and Ora were married in 1903, and subsequently raised a family of seven children, including Leonard (b. 1904), Lorina (b. 1905), Virginia (b. 1907), Olivia (b. 1909), Alice (b. 1910), Joseph (b. 1912), and Patricia (b. 1923). In about 1908 or 1909 the Fortes began operating a grocery store located across the street from this house, at the southeast corner of LaFarge and Walnut. The Forte family lived in a dwelling attached to the store for a time, before moving into a house on this property after Ora's parents had passed away. The Fortes had the current house built here in about 1918. The Fortes lived here until about 1937, when Ora passed away at a relatively young age. Michael never remarried, and did not pass away until 1968, at the age of 96. Following the Fortes, this house was owned by the Eberharder family during most of the 1940s and 1950s. Members of their family included Fred J. and Frances Eberharder, followed by LeRoy and Alice Eberharder. Fred was a coal miner who worked for the Louisville - Lafayette Coal Company. From the late 1950s to the present, this house has been owned and occupied by George and Margie Lazuk. Now retired, George worked for the Public Service Company. 36. Sources of Information (Boulder County) "Real Estate Appraisal Card - Urban Master", on file at the Boulder Carnegie Library. Conarroe, Carolyn. The Louisville Story, Louisville: Louisville Times Inc., 1978. "Forte" no author, n.d. (Biographical manuscript relating the history of the Forte family, on file at the Louisville Historical Museum.) Polk's Boulder County Directory [generally published annually], Denver, Kansas City, and Salt Lake City: R.L. Polk and Company Publishers. Polk's Longmont City Directory, [generally published annually], Denver, Kansas City, and Salt Lake City: R.L. Polk and Company, Publishers, 1966 - 1997. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, dated August 1893, November 1900, and August 1908.