301 Spruce St History - Laserfiche WebLink

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Louisville shows the house in the correct location. 1908 was also the year in which the Thompsons purchased the lots. For these reasons, the year of construction of 1908 given by Boulder County is assumed to be correct. According to the 2018 Stories in Places: Putting Louisville's Residential Development in Context from PaleoWest Archaeology, a "pair of nearly identical two-story houses stands at 829 Garfield Avenue (not yet recorded) and 301 Spruce Street (5BL856). Another similar, one and one -half -story house without cross-gabling stands at 1037 Main Street (5BL8022). The similarities of these three houses suggests that they may be kit houses, or may have been constructed by the same or associated people." John & Maggie Thompson Family Ownership, 1908-1961 John and Maggie Thompson purchased Lots 12-18 in early 1908. Just a few months later, John conveyed his interest in the parcel to Maggie as the sole owner. They are believed to have built the house in the same year, 1908. John Thompson (1855-1930) was from Missouri and his parents had been born in Scotland. In 1880, he married Maggie Boyd (1857-1945), who was from Scotland and who had emigrated in 1872. By 1885, the Thompson family was in Louisville. The 1910 census record shows them to be living in the vicinity of 301 Spruce (based on the identities of their neighbors) and indicates that Maggie had had eight children, of whom five survived. These five children were Henry (1883-1941); John (1884-1954); George (1887-1962); Grace (1891-1966); and Arthur (1900-1971). John C. Thompson worked in coal mines in the Louisville area. A directory from 1896 shows him as the foreman of the Hecla Coal Mine No. 2, and the 1900 and 1910 census records list his occupation as "engineer." (Their 1920 census record could not be located.) In 1891, he was a charter member of the local chapter of the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization. Newspaper articles indicate that John C. Thompson was on the side of striking miners during the Long Strike of 1910-1914. Directories following 1908 show them as living on Spruce, although the address numbering system was not the same system as exists today. The 1926 and 1928 directories specifically place them at the northeast corner of Spruce and McKinley. John C. Thompson passed away in 1930 and Maggie continued to reside in the house for some time. The 1930 federal census appears to show her living at 301 Spruce. In 1932, she appeared to be living there with her divorced son, Henry, and his daughter, Lorraine. The 1936 Louisville directory shows her at 301 Spruce (under its previous address of 533 Spruce) along with what appears to be a renter, William Koler. The 1943 shows Carl and Orpha Hindman to have been living at 301 Spruce, and it is not certain where Maggie Thompson was living at that time. 2