Local history
The Louisville Historical Museum helps residents and visitors of all ages explore the history of Louisville. With many resources online and on the Museum campus, anyone curious about our town can find documents and artifacts to support their research.
Museum research documents
Museum and City staff have researched and compiled the documents below. To request one of these documents, please email the Museum team at or call (303) 335-4850.
- Vietnam Veterans from Louisville and Superior
- Italian Surnames of Louisville
- World War II Servicemen, compiled from the DVD "Our Boys and Girls in the Armed Forces, 1943-1944"
- Roster and Christmas Menu for Federal Troops in Louisville, 1914-1915
- Blast: The 1936 Monarch Mine Explosion. A detailed account by William M. Cohen of the explosion that killed eight coal miners, and its possible causes.
- Trash Talk Landfill Map. An interactive map showing abandoned mine shafts later used as trash dumps.
- Historic Coal Mining Map Overlay. A map with historic mining imagery from the Colorado Geological Survey. Use the slider to compare 2018 aerial imagery with historic maps of mined areas in part of Louisville.
Family History 1-2-3
Collect your family's history, memories, and stories with our Family History 1-2-3 video series. You can watch it on the History at Home page or the Museum's YouTube channel. The series breaks the work into easy steps and includes interactive activities. It goes beyond names and dates to explore traditions, food, and art.
- Unit 1 covers the basics: how to start, how to set the scope of your project, and where to find help. It includes sample interview questions and tips.
- Unit 2 covers the creative side, with prompts that connect people, places, foods, stories, images, and art. Use the Recipe History template to record your family's food history.
- Unit 3 covers preserving your work, with tips for storing and sharing your history and managing digital files so they last.
Louisville Pioneer Awards
The Louisville Historical Commission gives the Louisville Pioneer Award each year. It honors a person who, through business or personal activities, has made a significant contribution to the success and welfare of the community. The first award went to J.J. Steinbaugh in 1985.
Recent recipients
- 2025: Memory Delforge
- 2024: Ed Helmstead
- 2023: Janet Russell
- 2022: Debbie Krueger
- 2021: The Louisville Community
- 2020: Keith Helart
- 2019: Leon Wurl
- 2018: Don Buffo
- 2017: Anthony "Joe" Madonna
- 2016: Ted and Carolyn Manzanares
- 2015: Dick DelPizzo
To the full list and read brief biographies of past recipients, please email the Museum team at or call (303) 335-4850.
Obituary and cemetery records
The Museum collects obituaries of Louisville residents from every time period. These help the public with family history research and help staff write historic building reports. The collection holds about 2,500 obituaries and includes a maiden name index.
Cemetery resources
- Search Louisville Cemetery for plot and monument locations
Drumm's 1909 Map of Louisville
Henry A. Drumm of Boulder, Colorado made this map. He was a lawyer who created detailed maps of the Boulder County area. The map was made in 1909 and was likely commissioned by the Town of Louisville. Tack holes in the corners suggest it once hung on a wall at the Louisville Town Hall. As far as we know, this map, owned by the Museum, is the only copy that exists.
The map shows:
- The town layout and subdivisions
- Street names
- Lots and the main buildings on them
- Mines outside of town
- The names of owners of surrounding farmland
This map belongs to the Louisville Historical Museum and requires credit when used. No copies may be deposited or placed on file in any other archive, museum, library, or similar repository.