Museum Tours 

Tours of the Louisville Historical Museum take students through the three historic buildings built between 1903 and 1908, on the Museum campus. 

• The Jacoe Store features artifacts and historic photographs that reflect the settlement and industry of Louisville, such as coal mining artifacts and the 1920s-era painted theatre curtain from the Rex Theatre on Main Street.

• The Tomeo House is interpreted as a coal miner’s house and presents aspects of domestic life, immigrants, and family life. Students can explore material culture and technology exhibited in the kitchen, bedroom, and sitting room.

• The Jordinelli House contains a six-foot by six-foot replica of original downtown Louisville, which introduces the commercial and business development of the town.

Schedule a Museum Visit 

Teachers can schedule tours of the Museum for any age group by contacting the Museum at least a few weeks in advance.

• Please include information about whether you have multiple classes to bring and the approximate number of people in the classes or group.
• Due to the small sizes of the Museum buildings, we will ask you to divide classes of more than 25 people into two groups, and extra staffing will be arranged for the tour in order to accommodate everyone.
• We request a minimum of one adult chaperone for every 6 children under age 12.
• We will be happy to emphasize specific topics upon request, such as the area’s coal mining history or daily life.

Schedule a Group Tour - Special Tour Request Form

History Resources

The following tools provide primary and secondary resources that cover Louisville history and United States history. These and other resources can also be found under the Discover tab at the top of the webpage.

Louisville Historical Museum On-line Photo Collection - over 4,800 images related to Louisville History

Louisville Historian - Museum member newsletter featuring articles on Louisville history

Louisville Times - Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection - includes the Louisville Times from 1942 plus other local newspapers from the region

Digital Public Library of America - Primary source materials as well as on-line exhibits and education kits

Research Assistance
Museum staff are happy to work with students researching the history of Louisville. If you have a specific research question, we recommend setting up an appointment to discuss your project. Contact us at:

• museum@louisvilleco.gov
• 303-335-4850

History for Early Education Classrooms

History education is for all ages, and there's always something new to learn! The Museum is happy to partner with preschools and early education classrooms to provide enriching programs for students. These programs will fulfill the community engagement goal of the Creative Curriculum, delivering new interpretations of the Museum's collections and content.

Programs are designed for ages 2-5 years old and last 30 minutes for sit down programs, and can be followed with a 30 minute tour of the buildings. Request a program through our Special Tours form.

Sample program topics and format:

25-minute live program about different types of clothing and their uses. Scheduled in advance. Will incorporate age-appropriate vocabulary and activities throughout

Clothing types included (20 minutes): 

• Apron
  • Attire for cooking or working to be worn over your clothes to keep you clean. Traditionally used as a smock for cooking or baking, but they were also worn by employees in grocery stores, butchers, blacksmiths, etc. 
  • Will demonstrate how to put it on and ask that the students pretend to put one on as well, copying the instruction or repeating it back
  • Will show historic image that features an apron
• Helmet 
  • In our collection, which includes a large majority of coal mining artifacts, helmets represent a safety feature for miners. We will briefly talk about this and then also discuss helmets more generally as a safety item
  • Will demonstrate how to put it on and will pass around a toy miners helmet to try on
  • Will show historic images that features helmet-wearing
• Overalls
  • Attire used for manual work and dirty jobs 
  • Will talk about overalls being worn by farmers, miners, mechanics, construction workers, etc.
  • Will demonstrate how to put on overalls and ask children to pretend to put on their own overalls
  • Show the historic overalls we have in the collection
  • Will ask students what other kinds of jobs they think might be messy enough to require overalls 
• School Spirit Sweater
  • Attire used by students at Louisville High School which used to be “The Pirates”
  • Will talk about clothes worn to school and explain that this sweater was designed to keep a student warm and be decorative for their specific school
  • Will show the historic school sweater we have in the collection and imagery of students wearing them
  • Will ask students what they typically wear to school and wait for responses
• Long underwear
  • Thermal layers worn under clothes when it was cold to stay warm
  • The boys that lived in the Tomeo House used to wear them to bed in the winter when snow would come through the roof
  • Will show a pair of long underwear and ask children if they know when they might wear them before giving the definition

Q&A (5 minutes)

Will answer any questions brought up by the students or teachers 

25-minute live program about types of building tools. Scheduled in advance. Will incorporate age-appropriate vocabulary and activities throughout

Building Tools Included (20 minutes): 

• Hammer 
  • Used to drive or hit a fascinator or nail into a piece that you want to connect
  • Will demonstrate swinging a hammer and ask students to copy the motion 
  • Will discuss how to be safe with the tool and how it might have historically been used 
• Screwdriver 
  • Used to turn a screw into a hole to fix or connect two objects
  • Will demonstrate using a screwdriver and ask students to copy the motion 
  • Will discuss how to be safe with the tool and how it might have historically been used 
• Saw 
  • Used to cut an object, most commonly wood for building
  • Will demonstrate how to use a saw and ask students to copy the motion
  • Will look at saw in collection
  • Will discuss how it was historically used to cut timber (trees) to make supports for mine shafts
• Lamp 
  • Used to light the work area 
  • Will pass around model educational lamps to look at and touch 
  • Will look at lamps in collection
  • Will discuss how it was historically used to light work area or space before there was electricity
• Mine Pick
  • Used to mine coal and break the coal apart
  • Will blow up inflatable mine pick
  • Will look at mine pick in collection
  • Will demonstrate the swing of the mine pick and ask students to copy the motion 

Q&A (5 minutes)

Will answer any questions brought up by the students or teachers

25-minute live program about animals that lived in historic Louisville. Scheduled in advance. Will incorporate age-appropriate vocabulary and activities throughout

Animals Included (20 minutes): 

• Canaries
  • Canaries are small song birds that would sing all the time
  • Miners would take them into the mines with them. The birds would stop singing if the mine was unsafe and miners needed to leave
  • Will listen to canary song and ask children to imitate it
  • Will pass around a canary figurine
• Mules
  • Mules are close relatives of horses
  • They went down into the mines and pulled the carts full of coal
  • Will show images of mules in the coal mines from collection
  • Will pass around figurines of mules
• Horses
  • Horses would pull carts called buggies before there were cars
  • People could also ride on them to go places
  • Will pass around figurine of horse
• Chickens
  • Many families had chicken coops in their backyards
  • They would raise the chickens for food and eggs
  • Will pass around chicken coop toy
• Dogs
  • Just like today, people kept dogs as pets
  • Will pass around dog figurine
  • Will show photos of dogs from collection
  • Will ask students if they have any dogs

Q&A (5 minutes)

Will answer any questions brought up by the students or teachers

25-minute live program about types of town establishments. Scheduled in advance. Will incorporate age-appropriate vocabulary and activities throughout

Businesses Included (20 minutes): 

• Coal Mines
  • Miners dug deep holes to get a material called coal out of the ground
  • They could burn coal to cook food and heat their homes
  • Will show laminated photos of coal mines and miners
  • Will pass around a piece of coal
  • Will show a toy that demonstrates the process of coal mining
• Grocery Stores
  • Louisville used to have lots of grocery stores, including Italian grocery stores where you could buy pasta
  • Will have kids weigh pretend cans and scoop out pasta
  • Will show historic images of grocery stores, including the Jacoe Store
• Restaurants
  • Louisville had many popular Italian restaurants that served dishes like pasta
  • Will look at historic menu
  • Will look at the Blue Parrot stained glass
  • Will play with pasta making set
• Soda Shop/Ice cream
  • Louisville used to have an ice cream parlor where people would go and socialize and have a sweet treat on a hot day
  • Will look at photos from an ice cream parlor from the collection
  • Will play with ice cream play set
• Shoe Repair Shop
  • When your shoes got a hole in them, instead of getting new ones you could take them to a shoe repair shop to get them fixed
  • Will tap on shoe to demonstrate “repair” and ask students to do the same
• Phone Switchboard Controller
  • Before we had phones like the ones you use today, you would call someone called the operator who worked at a telephone switchboard and tell them who you wanted to talk to, they would connect you to that person
  • You couldn’t get this job if your arms were too short!
  • Will show photos of operating booths and woman working in one
  • Would demonstrate how an operator would answer a call and have the students repeat back, “I will connect you!”
• Blacksmith
  • Blacksmiths are people who work with metal
  • They fixed tools, farming equipment, and even fixed horseshoes that would go on the feet of mules and horses
  • Will show horse/mule shoe from collection
  • Will demonstrate to kids a pretend hammer motion like the blacksmith uses
  • Will show historic photo inside a blacksmith shop

Q&A (5 minutes)

Will answer any questions brought up by the students or teachers

Primary Source Packet Key

Packet 1: “Louisville’s Italian Heritage”

-Standards met per grade-

• 2nd Grade

  • Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Second Grade // Standard Category: 1. History. SS.2.1.1

    • Objective: People of various cultures influence neighborhoods and communities over time.

    • 2nd grade resource packet explores Louisville’s Italian population and how it shaped Louisville. 

• 3rd Grade 

  • Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Third Grade // Standard Category: 1. History. SS.3.1.1

    • Objective: How do we know what we do about Italian families in Louisville? Compare primary and secondary sources and discuss what kinds of information they share.

    • 3rd grade resource packet explores the history of Louisville’s Italian population using primary and secondary sources.  

• 4th Grade

  • Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Fourth Grade // Standard Category 1. History. SS.4.1.1

    • Objective: Historical comparisons and critical thinking using clues from different kinds of sources.

    • 4th grade resource packet explores the history of Louisville’s Italian population and how their experiences differ from those of today. 

• 5th Grade

  • Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Fifth Grade // Standard Category 1. History. SS.5.1.1

    • Objective: How did people from various backgrounds understand and experience the same time period?

    • 5th grade resource packet explores the history of Louisville’s Italian population and guides students to compare the experiences of Italian families living in Louisville with Italians living in other parts of Colorado at the same time.  

Packet 2: “History from Buildings”

-Standards met per grade-

• 2nd Grade 

  • Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Second Grade // Standard Category: 1. History. SS.2.1.1

    • Objective: How can we learn history from buildings?

    • 2nd grade resource packet explores Louisville Railroad Depot as a historical resource.

• 3rd Grade 

  • Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Third Grade // Standard Category: 1. History. SS.3.1.1

    • Objective: How do we know what we do about historic buildings?

    • 3rd grade resource packet explores historic buildings through primary and secondary sources.

• 4th Grade

  • Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Fourth Grade // Standard Category 1. History. SS.4.1.1

    • Objective: How have people over time experienced a historic building?

    • 4th grade resource packet explores the history of historic buildings through contextual clues and multiple time periods.

• 5th Grade

  • Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Fifth Grade // Standard Category 1. History. SS.5.1.1

    • Objective: How did people from various backgrounds understand and experience the same historic buildings?

    • 5th grade resource packet explores historic buildings and their changing purposes and community roles over time. 

Louisville's Italian Heritage

Background Knowledge:
Louisville was founded in 1878 as a coal mining town. Louisville’s first Italian residents moved to the area around 1890. Before this, Louisville was home to residents from England, Ireland, France, Austria, Germany, and other places in the U.S. Even with all these other groups represented, Italian culture left quite a few marks on Louisville as it grew. Louisville's Italian Heritage explores many of the ways Italian culture could be seen in Louisville. Food was a popular way of expressing one’s culture as were recreational activities, such as bocce ball.

2nd Grade Resource Packet

• Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Second Grade // Standard Category: 1. History. SS.2.1.1
• Objective: People of various cultures influence neighborhoods and communities over time.
• 2nd grade resource packet explores Louisville’s Italian population and how it shaped Louisville.  

3rd Grade Resource Packet

• Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Third Grade // Standard Category: 1. History. SS.3.1.1
• Objective: How do we know what we do about Italian families in Louisville? Compare primary and secondary sources and discuss what kinds of information they share.
• 3rd grade resource packet explores the history of Louisville’s Italian population using primary and secondary sources.  

4th Grade Resource Packet

• Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Fourth Grade // Standard Category 1. History. SS.4.1.1
• Objective: Historical comparisons and critical thinking using clues from different kinds of sources.
• 4th grade resource packet explores the history of Louisville’s Italian population and how their experiences differ from those of today. 

5th Grade Resource Packet

• Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Fifth Grade // Standard Category 1. History. SS.5.1.1
• Objective: How did people from various backgrounds understand and experience the same time period?
• 5th grade resource packet explores the history of Louisville’s Italian population and guides students to compare the experiences of Italian families living in Louisville with Italians living in other parts of Colorado at the same time.  

History From Buildings

Background Knowledge:
Historic buildings can be found in towns all across the country and world. This activity and primary source set explores examples of historic buildings in the Louisville, Colorado area as a way of learning history. Historical buildings can be studied like historical artifacts. They can share stories about past owners, historic trends, environmental considerations, societal developments, and much more. Some of these stories may not be obvious upon first looking at a historic building. This activity and primary source set will help students tease out these stories using contextual clues.

Students should first watch “Railroad Depot now Louisville Preschool.” This video provides a local example of a historic building that was repurposed but still shares stories of the past.

2nd Grade Resource Packet

• Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Second Grade // Standard Category: 1. History. SS.2.1.1
• Objective: How can we learn history from buildings?
• 2nd grade resource packet explores Louisville Railroad Depot as a historical resource.

3rd Grade Resource Packet

• Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Third Grade // Standard Category: 1. History. SS.3.1.1
• Objective: How do we know what we do about historic buildings?
• 3rd grade resource packet explores historic buildings through primary and secondary sources.

4th Grade Resource Packet

• Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Fourth Grade // Standard Category 1. History. SS.4.1.1 
•  Objective: How have people over time experienced a historic building?
• 4th grade resource packet explores the history of historic buildings through contextual clues and multiple time periods.

5th Grade Resource Packet

• Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Fifth Grade // Standard Category 1. History. SS.5.1.1
• Objective: How did people from various backgrounds understand and experience the same historic buildings?
  
• 5th grade resource packet explores historic buildings and their changing purposes and community roles over time.