Harvesting Historical Riches

The Louviers Village Club: Dynamite Project Ignites Local Excitement

Originally published in Colorado History NOW, February 2006

Sticks of dynamite bearing the Du Pont Company logo began to be used in Colorado mines in 1908. Previously, engineers had to order explosives from Missouri or California. But after Du Pont built the Louviers plant just south of Denver, they shopped locally and got more bang for their buck.

The town of Louviers grew up around the manufacturing facility. According to Douglas County historian Susan Consola Appleby, the ad hoc village consisted of “worker’s tents, adobe huts, and homes dug into the hillsides.” The Record Journal of Douglas County reported that “There were no streets and the roads in and out were impassable. Not a modern convenience was enjoyed…. There was no electricity, no sewerage, no fire protection.” The town’s unsanitary conditions worried residents, the county, and the company alike.

Du Pont, which wanted to attract and retain good workers, eventually replaced the shantytown with a master-planned community of well-built homes for families, a hotel for single employees, and a three-room schoolhouse for the children. It retained ownership of all of the property and deducted the rent—between $8 and $27—from each employee’s paycheck. The company also hired a teacher and doctor and supplied coal and electricity.

To foster a sense of community in the new town, Du Pont built the Louviers Village Club in 1908. This recreation and cultural center was replaced by a more elaborate structure in 1917. The largest building of its kind in the county at the time, the Craftsman-style behemoth contained an assembly hall, a “women’s talk room,” a grocery store, and a post office. It also boasted a two-lane maple-floored bowling alley with hand-loaded pin setters.

The club’s opening night was “some party,” according to the Record-Journal. “The entertainment committee in charge of the affair got Morrison’s negro Jazz band from Denver and they tore off the rag in fine style and everybody had a good time. The club’s bowling alleys, pool and billiard table were thrown open to the public.”

Du Pont ran the club until 1963, when it leased the facility to the town. This transfer of control reflected a phased corporate strategy to shut down the factory and loosen its paternal grip on Louviers. In 1962, the company sold land and homes to residents and deeded the streets and parks to Douglas County. It still owns land surrounding the town, but has no municipal responsibilities. Douglas County has owned the Village Club since the early 1970s but was unable to contemplate comprehensive rehabilitation projects until recently.

Four State Historical Fund grants totaling almost $500,000 made those projects possible. The county began by conducting a historic structure assessment that has guided subsequent rehabilitation work. During the last five years, preservation contractors have restored the main meeting room, repaired and replaced windows, removed a non-historic drop ceiling, restored exterior woodwork and masonry, and added ADA-compliant access to the building.

Current and former Louviers residents backed the projects from the beginning. “As the daughter of a retired Du Pont employee and former resident of Louviers when it was a company town, I am very excited about the restoration,” said Sandra Richardson. “I personally remember learning how to bowl at the two-lane bowling alley.”

“I had the pleasure of having my wedding [in the Village Club],” added Megan Thomas. Many of my guests were in awe of the building and its history, some hoping that it would be available for their wedding.”

Thomas’s friends are in luck. Thanks to Douglas County, the State Historical Fund, and preservation contractors such as A-E Design Associates and Scheuber+Darden Architects, the Louviers Village Clubhouse is now available to the public for weddings or any other family or community event.

BY BEN FOGELBERG, Editor

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