Exhibits

The Louisville Historical Museum features permanent exhibits in its three historic buildings. Together they tell the story of Louisville's early history and growth from 1878 to 1955.

Permanent exhibits

Jacoe Store
The main building, known historically as the Jacoe Store, holds artifacts and historic photos that reflect Louisville's settlement and industry. Highlights include coal mining artifacts and a 1920s painted theatre curtain from the Rex Theatre on Main Street.

Tomeo House
The Tomeo House is shown as a coal miner's home, with a kitchen, bedroom, and sitting room. It was home to two of Louisville's many Italian families: the Tomeo family, and later the Rossi family.

Jordinelli House
The Jordinelli House holds a six-foot by six-foot replica of original downtown Louisville, made by Louisville native Dick Del Pizzo.

Louisville In Tune

Music has always mattered to Louisville's early residents, who arrived with rich musical traditions from their home countries. Alongside the clamor of coal mines and train whistles, the streets and homes of Louisville filled with trumpets, drums, pianos, violins, accordions, songs in Welsh, Italian, and Spanish, and even opera. The town was home to skilled musicians of all ages who shared their talents and taught others, so music was part of every social occasion and family gathering.

The recordings below accompanied the Louisville in Tune front window exhibit in 2023. They are examples of music played or enjoyed by Louisville residents, from the first Louisville band in the 1880s to award-winning piano students in the 1980s.

Le Streghe by Paganini
Eliseo Jacoe and his brother Marcello "Frank" Jacoe founded the Louisville Concert Band in 1906. Most members were Italian coal miners. The band often played classical Italian music, including "Le Streghe," which appeared in the band's 1909 Grand Concert.

Colorado Strike Song
The Louisville Concert Band, led by Eliseo Jacoe, played this at rallies and parades supporting the coal strikes of 1910 to 1914. Frank J. Hayes, president of the UMWA (the United Mine Workers of America, a labor union), wrote the lyrics in September 1913. It was sung to the tune of "Battle Cry of Freedom" from the Civil War.

1920s Dance Music
Louisville's small dance bands, such as the Harris Happy Eight, Knobby's Band, and the Romeo Royal Entertainers, played music like this at dances in Red Men's Hall in the 1920s and 1930s.

Acuzena in Il Trovatore
Violette McKenzie McCarthy taught music at Louisville High School from 1930 to 1935. A skilled musician and opera singer, she sang the role of Acuzena in 1946 in Verdi's opera Il Trovatore with the Denver Opera Company. This video features contralto Katerina Jalovcova in the role.

Mephistopheles in Faust
Fred Nesbit, a student of Violette McCarthy, went on to an opera career. This video features Pavlo Denysenko singing an aria (a solo song in an opera) as Mephistopheles in Charles Gounod's opera Faust. Nesbit also sang this role in 1949 with the Denver Opera Company.

Richard LaSalle
Richard LaSalle grew up in Louisville in the 1920s and 1930s and studied accordion, piano, and voice with Eliseo Jacoe and Violette McCarthy. As a high school student, he led his own orchestra, "Dick LaSalle and his Maytag Orchestra." He was featured regularly on Denver radio station KOA during the Big Band era. In 1958, he moved to Hollywood and began composing music for film and television.

Somebody Stole My Girl
As a young man, LaSalle earned recognition for his accordion version of this song, which aired on Denver's KOA radio in 1938. This recording is played by Ebbe Jularbo.

Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny
Through the 1930s and 1940s, LaSalle toured the U.S. with his own band. This song, sung by the Andrews Sisters, is typical of the upbeat "society music" popular for an evening of dining and dancing.

LaSalle at the Persian Room
LaSalle traveled coast to coast with his orchestra, playing upscale hotels such as the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco and the Plaza Hotel in New York. This recording features his orchestra playing the Persian Room theme from the Plaza Hotel.

Fine Dining in Louisville
From 1964 to 1976, Louisville had its own society music at the Three Coins Restaurant at 595 Main St. The restaurant was famous for its Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, which accompanied fine dining and silent movie nights. Organists Dick Hull and Ray Young both released records of their music from the Three Coins.

Lost in Space
LaSalle composed soundtracks for over 400 movies and TV shows, including campy classics like Lost in Space.

The Day Mars Invaded Earth
LaSalle created dramatic, tense music for horror and science fiction films of the 1960s and 1970s.

Polichinelle by Rachmaninoff
Marion Thirlaway taught voice and piano in Louisville for 45 years, from 1943 to 1988. This recording features Polichinelle in F-sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 4, by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Trang Than, one of Thirlaway's students, played it and won first place in the Baldwin Piano Competition in 1987.

Accordion Bands
Accordion bands were very popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Many Louisville children played in local and national competitions, and accordion bands were regular features in Louisville parades. This video shows the Ray Littee Accordion Band as featured on the Mickey Mouse Club TV show in 1958.