TRACT #57 AND TRACT #58 – PASQUALE, JOSEPHINE, EVELYN, AND SALVATORE LOMBARDI
Pasquale, Josephine, Evelyn, and Salvatore Lombardi were the 14th, 16th, 28th, and 29th signers of the Petition to Incorporate Federal Heights in 1940. As property owners in the area to be incorporated, they were eligible to sign the petition.
Pasquale Lombardi was born in Italy in 1895 to Salvatore and Cosima (Lombardi) Lombardi. He came with his family to America in 1905. As a young boy, Pasquale worked in his father’s grocery store on Mariposa Street in Denver delivering meat and produce to customers by horse-drawn wagon. He had six sisters.
Josephine Ferrone was born in 1899 to Italian immigrants, Agostino and Maria (Vitiello) Ferrone. She had a sister, Annie, who was born in 1905. Both her sister and her father died in 1906.
Pasquale and Josephine were married in Denver, Colorado in 1915. They had three children, Salvatore born in 1917, Evelyn born in 1919, and Lillian born in 1921.
In 1924, Pasquale put together four lots in Denver and built a home at 4211 Green Court. The home was built on a quarter-acre with views to Denver’s rising skyline and St. Catherine of Sienna Catholic Parish where he was a prominent benefactor. Pasquale and Josephine lived in the home for many decades.
Pasquale’s interest in property on North Federal began in the mid-1930s, when on his way back from a hunting trip he stopped by the Rainbow Hall (currently 8800 Federal Boulevard) for something to drink. Before he left, he had traded the owner, Joe Moore, two vehicles - a 1930 Reo truck and a 1929 Chevrolet truck – along with $350, for Moore’s interest in the property. For several years, the property was in probate as part of the estate of Annie Lloyd. During that time, Lombardi operated a sawmill and made lettuce crates. After probate, a lien by a lumber company and a subsequent court case, Pasquale became the owner of the property on December 30, 1939. Pasquale and Josephine deeded a portion of the property to their children, Evelyn and Salvatore, a few weeks later in January 1940.
Pasquale was named to a commission to serve as a judge and clerk for the 1940 incorporation election. After the successful incorporation vote, Pasquale was elected the first Mayor of Federal Heights. He was instrumental in the formation of a town government and the volunteer fire department. Evelyn and Salvatore deeded their Federal Heights property back to their parents in 1961.
On May 1, 1971, Pasquale and Josephine sold their property in Federal Heights to Michael F. Broncucia for $150,000.
Pasquale passed away on February 7, 1984 at the age of 89. Josephine passed away in 1991. Salvatore, married to Isabell Catherine Gust, died in 2006. The Lombardis are interred at Mt. Olivet in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Evelyn, who had married Robert Lantz in 1949, passed away in Oklahoma in 2008.