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La City0r Louisville Bridget Bacon Louisville Historical Museum Department of Library & Museum Services City of Louisville, Colorado August 2019 COLORADO • SINCE 1878 816 Lincoln Avenue History Legal Description: Lots 15 & 16, Block 5, Pleasant Hill Addition, Louisville, Colorado Year of Construction: circa 1909 Summary: This home, constructed by 1909, was owned by French, English, and Central European families from the early 1900s until the 1990s. Development of the Pleasant Hill Addition; Date of Construction The subdivision in which this house is located, the 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 this area 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. The 1948 Boulder County Assessor card for this property and the Boulder County Assessor's Office website both give 1910 as the date of construction of this house. Boulder County is sometimes in error with respect to the date of construction of Louisville buildings, so other evidence is looked to. In this case, we can see from the 1909 Drumm's Wall Map of Louisville, located at the Louisville Historical Museum, that the map shows a house located on these lots, so it is believed to have been constructed by that year. No other relevant information that might shed light on the construction date could be found. For these reasons, the date of construction is assumed to be "circa 1909." It is possible that it was constructed before 1909. Wattelet Family Ownership, 1903-1917; Thomas Owners, 1917-1919 Smith Wilson purchased these lots and other lots in the Pleasant Hill Addition in 1903. The same year, he sold Lots 15 & 16 to Louis Wattelet. From the Boulder County property records, it's not clear whether this was Louis Wattelet, Sr. (1851-1916), or Louis Wattelet, Jr. (1878-1923). The Wattelet family was one of Louisville's French families who had emigrated from coal mining areas in northern France in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Members of the Wattelet family first appear in records for Louisville by the year 1892. The male members of the family worked in local coal mines. 1