Louisville (1878, 5,350 feet) was platted by Louis Nawatny after coal was discovered in 1877. Production from three dozen mines peaked in 1909 at 753,287 tons. Transportation was never a problem in Louisville, since it lay on the Colorado Central's Boulder-to-Longmont line, constructed in 1872–1873. The town's first plat ran two blocks deep for four blocks along the west side of the tracks, and additions until after World War I almost always developed north, west, and south toward the coal mines. The business district centered on Main Street, while saloons were limited to a strip between Front Street and the tracks.
With rapid expansion of suburban housing in recent years, Louisville has become one of the fastest-growing towns in metropolitan Denver. A historic district of seventy mostly frame buildings represents development before 1920.
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