628 LaFarge Ave Historic Survey - Laserfiche WebLink

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Resource Number: 5BL920 Temporary Resource Number: 157508436002 Ownership and Use: Building This building originally served as a depot used jointly by the Colorado & Southern Railroad and the Denver Interurban Company. At the time, it was located in Louisville along the railroad tracks near the intersection of Pine Street and Front. The depot facilitated the transportation of coal until the local coal markets declined in the 1950s, and the depot was closed on July 20, 1962. In 1962, the Louisville Lions Club purchased the building and moved it to its current location at 628 LaFarge. The Lions used it as their social/civic hall until 1982. At that time, members of the Lions maintained ownership but rented it to the Louisville American Legion Post #111, who used the building as their social hall. By 1989, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) also became a tenant of the Lions Club and held their social/civic gatherings here. In 1993, David and Karen Bishop purchased the property and changed its use to a Dance School and Preschool. In 2000, they sold it to 628 LaFarge Avenue LLC. The same LLC (Limited Liability Company) still owns the property. The Louisville Preschool moved in as a tenant in 2001 and is still using the building. Original Construction Date The year of construction of the building is now believed to be 1909 (as opposed to 1910). The first source of information for this is the 1909 Drumm's Wall Map of Louisville located at the Louisville Historical Museum. That map shows the depot in its original and correct location by the railroad tracks near Pine Street. Just one year earlier, in 1908, the Sanborn map does not show a depot building. The other supporting information is in the 1909 Colorado State Business Directory, which lists W.O. McCullough as a Louisville agent for C & S Railway, Denver & Interurban Railway, and Wells Fargo Express. William 0 McCulloch (also sometimes spelled McCullough) was the agent who worked in the depot for many years. He is not listed as living in Louisville prior to 1909. He served as the agent until he passed away in 1928. Other railway agents who worked at the Louisville railway depot included Robert Miller, William Clark, and Richard Vaughan. The Depot Building and Labor Unrest The depot was at the center of labor unrest relating to the coal mine strike of 1910-1914. Local miners were on strike and they were hostile to the strikebreakers who had been brought in to work at some of the Louisville area mines. In April 1914, following a period of increased violence (including gunfire) between the two sides centered around the nearby Hecla Mine at South Boulder Road and Highway 42, the state militia was called in and arrived by rail. According to a Boulder Daily Camera article dated Jan. 21, 1957, which told of an interview with William Clark, the regular train crew refused to take the train carrying the militia into Louisville. (According to other sources, the train was being fired on by local miners.) Instead, they got off the train south of Louisville and "[r]ailroad supervisory personnel that was aboard pulled the train in. The entire town was down there to see it." It is believed that several photos of the depot in the collection of the Louisville Historical Museum capture the building as it appeared during this strike period of 1910-14. Sources of Information Archival materials on file at the Louisville Historical Museum, including Boulder Daily Camera article "Railroad Man Tells of Strike Trouble in Boulder Fields: by Forest Crossen, January 21, 1957; Louisville Times article "Depot Keeps Pace with City's Progress" by Carolyn Conarroe, February 24, 1993. Boulder County "Real Estate Appraisal Card — Urban Master" on file at the Carnegie Branch Library for Local History in Boulder, Colorado. Boulder County Clerk & Recorder's Office and Assessor's Office public records, accessed through http://recorder.bouldercountv.org. Census records and other records accessed through www.ancestry.com. Conarroe, Carolyn, The Louisville Story, Louisville Times, Inc., 2000 Directories of Louisville residents and businesses on file at the Louisville Historical Museum. 3