City of Loveland
Home MenuWest 5th Street Historic District
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In April 2009 the Loveland City Council approved by Ordinance on the recommendation of the Historic Preservation Commission the West 5th Street Historic District consisting of 25 properties. |
The homes in the district are comprised of a variety of architectural housing styles/types and encompass parts of thirteen small additions or subdivisions platted between 1883 and 1919. One addition, the Kilburns West Side Addition, was built before the turn of the century. Nine additions were platted during the first decade of the twentieth century and the remaining four were platted during the 1910s. Mirroring this development pattern and Loveland's population growth generally, more of the survey area's inventoried houses were constructed between 1900 and 1910 than during any other decade. Just one house in the survey area dates to the 1880s, while during the 1890s another seven dwellings were erected. Twenty-two residences were then built between as part of a city-wide building boom between 1900 and 1910, while during the same decade Loveland's population more than tripled, from 1100 to nearly 3700 citizens. An additional four houses were then erected in the 1910s, followed by nine houses in the 1920s, five during the 1930s, and finally three in the 1940s.
Historically, the neighborhood was made up of a fairly wide cross section of Loveland’s society. It was not a predominantly "upper class" neighborhood, made up primarily of bankers, merchants, attorneys, and other professionals; nor was it a predominantly "blue collar" neighborhood, composed of laborers, sugar beet factory employees, and tradesmen. The neighborhood's residents, rather, represented all of these professions, along with numerous other occupations. Loveland's progression, from a late nineteenth century agricultural center and railroad town, to a more diversified twentieth century economy, was also reflected in residents' occupations which evolved over the years. For example, jobs such as blacksmith, liveryman, and farmer were common through circa 1910, but by the 1920s had largely given way to a variety of occupations associated with the increasingly important automobile and tourism industries. One such example was the Lawrence E. Osborn family who resided at 218 W. 5th Street in the years surrounding 1908. After the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915, Lawrence, together with his father Daniel Osborn and his brothers William and Otto Osborn, operated the Rocky Mountain Transportation Company, the first automobile line to Estes Park. The famed "Stanley Steamers" invented by F. O. Stanley were the first vehicles used by the Osborns in operating their automobile line.
Early residents also made their livelihoods as bankers, realtors, insurance agents, lawyers, pastors, and architects as well as trade vocations such as plumbers, electricians, carpenters and contractors. Several teachers, many of whom were employed at nearby Loveland High School (historically located on West 4th street, one block to the south of the survey area), also resided in the neighborhood over the years. Other residents gained employment at the local Great Western Sugar Company factory, established in 1901, and at the Empson Canning Company facility, established in 1908. Many residents were also engaged as proprietors or employees of downtown Loveland businesses, including hardware stores, groceries, lumber yards, dry goods stores, and shoe stores.
Demographically, the neighborhood was predominantly made up of single-family households. A surprising number of unmarried women, including several widows, also lived throughout the neighborhood. Some of these women were retired, while others worked variously as teachers, nurses, dressmakers, seamstresses, and milliners.
Prominent builders and other craftsmen who resided in the neighborhood included Elmer Ivers, who was associated with both 707 and 747 W. 5th Street, Art Faucett, a carpenter, who lived at 731 W. 5th Street, and Norton C. Fansler, whose well-constructed residence was located at 603 W. 5th Street. "White collar" professionals were perhaps most notably represented by Aaron S. Benson, president of the Bank of Loveland, and by his two sons, Aaron V. Benson and Clarence V. Benson, both of whom were also engaged with their father in the banking business. The elder Benson's stately home was built at 463 W. 5th Street in 1897, while his two sons also resided in architecturally impressive houses, located respectively at 481 W. 5th Street and 355 W. 5th Street.