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Louisville Interpretive Signs <br />federal troops occupied the town for 8 months, confiscating firearms and banning the sale of alcohol to <br />enforce peace. After 5 years of striking and violence, Louisville's miners went back to work with little <br />improvement to working conditions. The mine hoist foundation is a reminder of the labor history of <br />Louisville. <br />6. Murphy Farm Interpretive Sign <br />266 words <br />Agriculture, like mining, was a driver for Louisville's economy. One of the earliest known settlers, David <br />Kerr arrived in 1864 to settle along the Coal Creek and farm the land. Kerr discovered coal on his land <br />and invited Louis Nawatny of the C.C. Welch Mining Company, the future namesake of Louisville, to <br />survey the property. As the mining populations increased, so did the need for agriculture. <br />The addition of irrigation ditches in the 1870s allowed settlers to better care for their crops and animals <br />and consequently, farm more successfully. In that same decade, railroads reached Louisville making it <br />possible to transport products beyond the community. <br />In 1905, after purchasing land from the Union Pacific Coal Company, Peter Murphy began farming on <br />present day 96th Street. Peter and his wife raised cows and hogs, grazed cattle, and grew crops. Coal <br />Creek, from which the Murphys got their water, runs through the property. The building complex, <br />including the house and red barn, are on the North end of the farm with a pasture for the animals to the <br />South. <br />After Dutch Warembourg purchased the farm he sold 50 acres to the west for the "Dutch Creek" <br />Housing Development and 40 acres to the north for Louisville Community Park. Additional land was sold <br />to Boulder County Open Space which preserves the lands agricultural history by leasing the land for hay <br />production and livestock grazing. The 72 acres on which the Old Murphy House and barn sits are under a <br />protection easement and stand as one of the best surviving examples of intact farm complexes from the <br />early 20th century. <br />