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Bridget Bacon <br />Louisville Historical Museum <br />Department of Cultural Services <br />City of Louisville, Colorado <br />February 2013; updated December 2022 <br />Eit 0f <br />Louisville <br />COLORADO - SINCE 1 878 <br />Joe's Metal Shop History <br />Current location: 1501 Empire Rd. (the previous location of "City Shops") <br />Year of Construction: 1948 (adjusted from 1949, which is the year that was given in the <br />2013 report on the history of the building) <br />Summary: This structure was a metal shop that Joseph Tomeo built in 1948 at 1005 <br />Main St. (now 1001 Main St.). The City of Louisville, the current owner, moved it to its <br />"City Shops" property on Empire Rd. in 1983. Over its nearly 75-year history, it has <br />functioned as both a downtown Main Street business and as a building serving public <br />purposes. <br />Tomeo Family Ownership of the Main Street Property <br />Felix (Felice) Tomeo (1872-1918) was the owner of Lots 1-4, Block 1, Barclay Place, <br />which is now the location of the Louisville Historical Museum campus at 1001 Main <br />Street. His ownership began with the first lots that he purchased in 1903. He had been <br />born in Italy, came to the U.S. in the 1890s, and in 1902 married Michelina Bartimoccia <br />(1886-1966). She had also been born in Italy, and she came to the U.S. and to Louisville <br />as a young child in the early 1890s with her family. <br />In about 1904, Felix Tomeo constructed the small family home on the property that is <br />now called the Tomeo House, and his family moved in. The Jacoe Store building on the <br />property is believed to have been constructed in about 1905-1906. <br />The Tomeo also built a two-story building in the area just south of the Tomeo House. <br />According to a Tomeo family member, the family called it "the Big House." The date of <br />its construction is unknown, but it is thought to have taken place in 1904-1906, at <br />around the same time as the other two buildings. This photo shows the Jacoe Store and <br />the two-story "Big House" building on the property in the early 1900s (with the Tomeo <br />House being behind the two buildings in the front): <br />1 <br />