Louisville Real Estate

About Louisville, Colorado

In 1877, life began in the historic Louisville business district, when coal was discovered. Louis Nawatny platted his farmland into city blocks and named the town after himself in 1878. Immigrant people of all nationalities traveled here and began to create a community. Italians, French, German and Slavic people formed their own neighborhoods. Most of the men worked in the mines, their sons often joining them at the age of fourteen. Everything they needed to support their daily life was available along two streets, Front and Main. Sixteen trains a day passed through Louisville, connecting it with Boulder, Eldorado Springs and Denver. Mining life was hard and dangerous. There were wars between the miners and their bosses when the miners went on strike. Pioneer residents can point out where bullets pierced the walls of their childhood homes during the troubles. Saloons and brothels were part of the frontier scene along with schools, churches, boarding houses, groceries, restaurants and even a small movie theater. Many of these buildings still stand unchanged in downtown historic Louisville and remain shadows of the town's lively past. Although the mines are now closed and silent, they are still beneath the city; the dark veins of Louisville's original life blood.