633 McKinley Ave History - Laserfiche WebLink

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Today, Block 10 of Louisville Heights translates to the west side of the 600 block of McKinley Ave., and the Corrigan Addition translates to the east and west sides of the 600 block of Johnson Ave. McKinley is shown on the right on the map above. In 1906, Wolfer and Affolter sold all of Block 10 of Louisville Heights to Donata Maria Girardo (1849-1926) of Superior. Both the Boulder County website and the 1948 Boulder County Assessor Card for this property give 1913 as the date of construction. (The Assessor Card, which was filled out in 1948, stated that the house was 35 years old.) Since Boulder County records are sometimes in error with respect to the construction dates of historic buildings in Louisville, other evidence must also be looked to. In this case, the 1909 Drumm's Wall Map of Louisville shows that the house at 633 McKinley had not yet been constructed by 1909. Unfortunately, there is no other evidence to consider. The owner from 1906 until 1921, Donata Maria Girardo, was a resident of Superior. As a result, her presence or absence in the vicinity of McKinley in the 1910 and 1920 census records or directories does not shed light on whether there was a residence at 633 McKinley. Girardo sold all of Block 10 of the Louisville Heights Addition, which is believed to have included the house at 633 McKinley by that time, in 1921. Smith Family Ownership, 1921-1927 In 1921, Charles Gilbert Smith (1883-1961) and Avis Edna "Edna" Stanley Smith (1884- 1973) purchased Block 10 of the Louisville Heights Addition from Girardo. In a separate transaction, the Smiths purchased both blocks of the Corrigan Addition in 1922. Charles G. Smith's family was from Trimdon, County Durham, in England. (The Fall 2012 issue of the Louisville Historian describes how many of the English families who wound up in Louisville came from Trimdon or near it.) Charles G. Smith was born in Pennsylvania, but he and his family returned to County Durham when he was young. It was there that he grew up before his family came to Louisville in 1904, according to his 1961 obituary in the Louisville Times. He worked as a coal miner in Louisville. His wife, Edna, was born in Kansas. According to their daughter, Wilma Smith Kermiet (in notes written by her on file at the Louisville Historical Museum), the Smith family, which consisted of the parents and seven children, did reside at 633 McKinley while she was growing up. The following photo from a public family tree for the Smith family on Ancestry.com shows the family at a point after they had lived at 633 McKinley. The Ancestry family tree includes the information that it was common practice with this family to use their middle names instead of their first names. The identifications are as follows. Back row, L 2