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It has been speculated that the house was the residence of someone in a management or supervisory role with National Fuel Company. This has been found to be correct. Recently digitized historic newspapers along with census data and directories point to Joseph Watson (1864-1926) and his family as having been the residents of 728 Grant. According to his obituary in the Denver Post (3/17/1926), Watson started working as the general superintendent of the National Fuel Company in 1907 and lived in Louisville. His obituary referred to him as a "prominent Colorado coal mine expert" and credited him with opening the Puritan Mine in Weld County for the National Fuel Company. According to the same obituary, in 1916 he became the chief inspector for the Operators Mutual Insurance Company. Census records for 1910 and 1920 show him to be renting a house on Grant Avenue in this approximate location with his wife, Ella (1868-1927), and children Joseph and Lillian. Louisville directories of the 1920s confirm the location. At the time of the 1930 census, their son Joseph Watson, Jr. rented the house and lived there with his sister Lillian Watson, his wife Nina (Biggins) and son Carl, and Nina's brother's family, for a total of eight people living in the house. Joseph, Jr. worked as a state auditor. Van Mater himself lived and worked in Denver. According to his obituary in the Denver Post on July 1, 1932, he had organized the National Fuel Company in 1904 and was its president until he retired in 1929. The National Fuel Company owned and operated several mines in counties around the state, including the Monarch Mine #1 in Marshall, the Monarch Mine #2 south of Louisville, and the Lucas Mine near Lafayette. Van Mater's name appeared in Denver newspaper articles from 1910-1914 relating to his opposition to the efforts of the miners who were on strike in Colorado at that time. The house at 728 Grant appears in the background of at least two photos from the Louisville Historical Museum's collection. The first is this photo that shows the owner of 720 Grant, which is the house to the south of 728 Grant, standing in his front yard. The owner, George Robinson (1872-1927), is seen flanked by his brother-in-law Al Boles on the left and his brother-in-law Jim Hood on the right. 728 Grant is behind them. (Robinson purchased the property at 720 Grant in 1904 and the County gives 1904 as the year of its construction. This photo would have been taken between 1904 and 1927, which is the earliest year that any of the three died.) 3