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Figure 4. Short Street, view west from Main Street, early 1900s (photo credit: LHM). <br />It seems likely that these weak economic conditions did not support extensive new residential <br />growth (Bacon 2016a). After the Long Strike, many of the formerly individually owned coal <br />mines were consolidated under new ownership by the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company. As a <br />result, many small worker houses from mine camps were abandoned, and the company sold them <br />at auction and people moved some of them onto town lots (Lewis 2011:2). <br />WAR YEARS (1918-1945) <br />Many of Louisville's young men left the town to participate in World War I (WWI) and World <br />War II (WWII). These events, in conjunction with the local economic downturn, followed by the <br />Great Depression (1929-1939), led to slow growth in the town's population during the war <br />years. Between 1910 and 1940, Louisville's population increased by just over 300 people and <br />decreased again by approximately 45 people by 1950 (Barlow et al. 2013:7, 26). However, <br />Louisville actually fared better than many other small Western towns because its mines remained <br />open during the Great Depression and actually increased in number in the early 1930s. This was <br />due, in part, to the low quality of Louisville's coal, which allowed it to be used only by local <br />residents, businesses, and the railroad. As a result, Louisville's coal industry was relatively <br />independent and not strongly tied to the regional or national economy (Bacon 2011a:1). <br />Louisville's population growth during the war years was facilitated by an influx of coal miners <br />from more hard-hit areas, including Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee (Bacon 2011a:2, <br />2015b:3). Still, times were hard and only three small subdivisions were filed between about 1912 <br />and 1947: Acme Terrace Addition, Robert DiGiacomo Addition, and High School Addition, all <br />in 1939 (City of Louisville 2017a). Furthermore, beginning during WWI, the United States, as a <br />whole, began to diversify its fuels use and expand the industries of natural gas and oil and, <br />15 <br />