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Bridget Bacon <br />Louisville Historical Museum <br />Department of Cultural Services <br />City of Louisville, Colorado <br />April 2023 <br />L`! Cityof <br />Louisville <br />COLORADO • SINCE 1878 <br />916 Main St. History <br />Legal Description: "Lot 9 less N 15 ft" of Block 1, Original Louisville <br />Year of Construction: 1948 <br />Summary: John Madonna's Bug Dust Pool Hall at 916 Main is remembered for its high -stakes, <br />illegal barbuit dice games in the 1950s and 1960s. Thousands of dollars would change hands at <br />these secret games taking place at a time when Louisville was still a relatively out-of-the-way <br />small town with a large Italian community. The building at 916 Main was a location in the state <br />where the Smaldone Brothers, who led organized crime in Denver and Colorado, had lucrative <br />gambling interests and were caught running a rigged table with magnetized dice. From 1971 to <br />1997, 916 Main was the location of the Louisville Times newspaper business and operations. <br />Most recently, it has been the location of Creative Framing & Art Gallery. <br />(Images in this report are from the Louisville Historical Museum collections unless otherwise <br />noted. Denver Post articles cited were accessed at Family History & Genealogy Search I <br />GenealogyBank. Denver Rocky Mountain News and Boulder Daily Camera items cited were <br />accessed at Boulder's Carnegie Library for Local History. Louisville Times articles cited were <br />accessed at Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.) <br />History of Site Prior to Current Building <br />This property is part of the original "Plat of the Town of Louisville" registered by Louis Nawatny <br />in 1878. The history of the property at 916 Main is interconnected with the histories of the <br />properties at 920 and 924 Main. As was noted in the Museum's report on 920 Main & 924 <br />Main, the house at 924 Main (which has been remodeled) was the home of the related <br />Hutchinson, Clarkson, and Hancock families for nearly 60 years. That report is accessible on the <br />City of Louisville website here: 920, 924 Main St History - Laserfiche WebLink (louisvilleco.gov). <br />1 <br />