740 Grant Ave History - Laserfiche WebLink

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Many houses have been relocated from place to place in the Louisville area. This topic was explored in the Fall 2011 issue of the Louisville Historian, available online here: http://www.louisvilleco.gov/home/showdocument?id=1114 . The Boulder County Assessor card for 740 Grant does not give a date of construction of the house. The County website currently states 1936 to be the date of construction. Boulder County has sometimes been found to be in error with respect to the construction dates of Louisville buildings, so other evidence is looked to. However, in this case, additional evidence regarding the date of construction could not be located for this report. Boulder County property records do indicate that the Walkers purchased the Superior property from Lola Smith Myres in 1946, and she had acquired it in 1942 from Charles Autrey as the executor of the estate of Zelda Hake Autrey (1859-1940). Zelda was the daughter of William and Emeline Hake, the founders of the town of Superior. Property records show that her father, William Hake, had conveyed ownership of Lot 11 and other lots to her husband, William Clinton Autrey, in 1896. Because of other evidence for the date of construction not being available, the date is assumed to be the date given by Boulder County, which is 1936. (The McLaughlins held on to their ownership of the lot at 303 W. William St. in Superior for several decades and sold it to the Boulder County Housing Authority in 1994. According to the Louisville Times, trades students at Boulder Valley Vo-Tech then built a house on the lot in a collaborative program with the Boulder County Housing Authority. Unfortunately, the house appears on lists of structures destroyed in the Marshall Fire on Dec. 30, 2021.) In 1996, the McLaughlin family and their history were the subject of an article in the Louisville Times: https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=LVT19960703-01.2.36&srpos=8 . Varra Family Ownership (1951-1975) Albert and Elizabeth Varra purchased 740 Grant from the McLaughlins in 1951. Elizabeth Gillis Varra was born in Arkansas in 1912, married Albert Varra of Louisville in 1928 or 1929, and died in 2008. Albert was born in Italy in 1902 and died in 1973. Together, they owned Varra's grocery store at 732 Main Street as well as the Colorado Cafe at 740 Front St. in the early 1950s. Elizabeth operated a florist shop at 700 Main St. in Louisville. They also bought and sold a number of residences in Louisville. After the Varras purchased 740 Grant, they rented it to the Norman Houston family in the early 1950s. However, Louisville directories show that Albert and Elizabeth Varra also made 740 Grant their own home starting later in the 1950s. Their four children were, by then, adults. The following photo and ground layout for 740 Grant are from the Boulder County Assessor Card dated 1962. The Louisville Grade School that stood in what is now Memory Square Park can be seen in the background on the left. 3