Historic Preservation Commission Agenda and Packet 2023 11 27

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Gigi Yang Louisville Historical Museum Department of Library & Museum Services City of Louisville, Colorado November 2023 LL Cotyof Louisville 708 Grant Ave. Legal description: Lots 8-9, Block 7, Pleasant Hill Addition Year of Construction: 1904 Summary: The early history of this house is notable for residents Jacob W. Pack and Joseph Potestio, who both played prominent roles in tumultuous years of Louisville's growth in the pre -Prohibition era and the rise of the United Mine Workers union during the Long Strike (1910- 1914. Later ownership enlightens the relationship between women and property ownership as a means of supplemental income for themselves during marriage, widowhood, and for supporting family members. History of Pleasant Hill Addition The subdivision in which this house is located, Pleasant Hill Addition, was platted in 1894. The subdivision was developed in the name of Orrin Welch, the half-brother of Charles C. Welch. Charles Welch was the person most responsible for the establishment of Louisville in 1878 after he established the first coal mine in what would become Louisville in 1877. Orrin Welch is not known to have ever lived in Colorado, and it is Charles C. Welch who is thought to have been the de facto developer. Earliest Parcel History Orrin Welch sold Lots 8 and 9 in Block 7 to William Robinson in 1904 for $80. Within the same year, Robinson sold the same lots to Nestor Foss for $100. The low price of both of these transactions indicate that there was no building on the site at that time. Nestor Foss Ownership, 1904-1909; Discussion of Date of Construction Nestor Foss (1871-1939) was born in Kville, Vastra Gotaland, Sweden and came to the U.S. in the 1880s. He married Elizabeth "Bessie" Tovado (1881-1926) of Superior in 1899 and worked as a farm laborer in Superior before moving to Louisville. In 1904, Nestor Foss purchased lots 8 and 9 from William Robinson. It is presumed that Foss built the first house on this site based on the significant increase in value between when he purchased the lot for $100 and when he sold it in 1909 for $800. Nestor and Bessie Foss had six children, some of whom lived in the house at