916 Main Historic Structure Assessment

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916 Main Street Hartronft Associates, pc Historic Structure Assessment October 10, 2023 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 card for 916 Main next door on the same date of Sept. 9, 1948, but left off the year when writing up the card. This is additional evidence that the building was constructed by 1948. Also, the 1949 directory for Louisville states that John Madonna's occupation was "billiards," and in December 1949, the Louisville Times listed the Bug Dust Pool Hall as being one of the sponsors of a Christmas show. The County giving the date of construction as being 1950 may be based on the Assessor filling out the orange -colored card with the ground layout in 1950. For these reasons, the year of construction is strongly believed to have been 1948. The following photo is from the 1948 Boulder County Assessor card for 916 Main. On the far left, the original Hutchinson -Clarkson -Hancock family home appears. The middle building shows the building that would soon become Joe D'Amato's "Joe's Fruit Market." The building on the right shows John Madonna's Bug Dust Pool Hall at 916 Main, with a sign already installed. Page 6of51