916 Main St History - Laserfiche WebLink

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In 1947, Amelia Clarkson Hancock was preparing to move to Denver and she sold her family's property to G.R. & Marguerite Henning. (According to an item in the Louisville Times on 11/20/1947, they purchased it for their daughter and son-in-law to live in. However, for whatever reason, that did not materialize.) In early 1948, the Hennings sold the property to John Madonna, Jr. John "Bug Dust" Madonna, Jr. Ownership (1948-1953, 1959-1967) Joe Colacci Ownership (1953-1959) Date of Construction and Early History of the Building John Madonna (1918-2022) purchased the Hutchinson -Clarkson -Hancock home at 924 Main in 1948, then transferred part of the property to his brother-in-law, Joe D'Amato. The original home at 924 Main became the D'Amato family home, and D'Amato constructed a building at 920 Main to be Joe's Fruit Market on what had been part of the south side yard of the original home. Additionally, John Madonna constructed a building for a pool hall that he intended to operate at 916 Main. This property that Madonna retained for himself also had been part of the south side yard of the original Hutchinson -Clarkson -Hancock family home. He named it the Bug Dust Pool Hall, with the name being based on his own nickname, but the name of the business and his nickname were also often given as one word, "Bugdust." John Madonna stated that it was constructed in 1948. The website of the County Assessor gives the date of construction as 1950. Boulder County has at times been found to be incorrect with respect to the year of construction of some historical buildings in Louisville, so it is important to look at other sources of evidence. This is especially important to do in cases such as this, where there is evidence for two different dates of construction for a historical building. In this case, the Louisville Times, looking back at news in town from the previous year of 1948, stated that the Bug Dust Pool Hall had been completed in July 1948 (The Louisville Times January 6, 1949 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection). The Boulder County Assessor card for this property does not clearly state a construction date. However, the card is virtually identical to other cards that were completed in 1948 for Louisville, including the one for the D'Amato property next door at 920 Main. The cards for both 916 and 920 Main state that they were filled out on Sept. 9, and the 920 Main card gives the date with the year: Sept. 9, 1948. It is strongly believed that the Assessor also filled out the 2