Historical Commission Agenda and Packet 2021 07 21

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Interpretive Plan for the Trott -Downer Cabins Louisville Historical Museum Louisville, Colorado Section 1: Introduction June 15, 2021 The Trott -Downer Cabins (the "Cabins") are two small historic cottages that the City of Louisville acquired in order to preserve them and to feature them as a cultural attraction for residents, tourists, and school classes. They were constructed at 801 and 809 Lee Ave. (with an alternate address of 825 Lee for both Cabins) between 1935 and 1940 as part of a complex of several rental cabins. (They are seen in their original location in 2017 in the photo above.) Thanks to the funding from the Historic Preservation Fund, the City moved and temporarily stored the Cabins in 2018 and is now in the process of relocating the Cabins close to their original location. The Louisville Historic Preservation Commission recommended that the Cabins' final use should allow them to be open to the public. Based on this recommendation, the City decided that, following their rehabilitation and relocation managed by the Louisville Planning Department, the Cabins will become a City asset for the Historical Museum staff to manage and interpret. The Museum staff will coordinate tours and programming relating to them. The Louisville Historical Museum, which is a division in the Department of Library & Museum Services and which is located at 1001 Main Street, is ideally suited to manage the interpretation of the Cabins. As the branch of the City entrusted with the preservation and interpretation of Louisville history through artifacts, photos, and the Museum's historic buildings, the staff possesses the skills, content expertise, and professional experience necessary to best use the Cabins to further the City's mission by preserving and enhancing life in Louisville. The Museum staff is grateful to the many different City departments, divisions, and citizen commissions working to make this project a success and to the residents of the Miners Field neighborhood who are supporting the preservation of Louisville history on one of their streets. The Museum staff has experience with another Museum building interpreted as a historic house. One of historic buildings on the Museum campus is the Tomeo House, a historic house with its interpretation based on everyday life during the Depression era of the 1930s, when Grace Rossi and her six children rented it. Museum staff and volunteers regularly conduct tours