What is the city directory dataset?

City directories are like old phone books. The Polk City Directory roots date back to 1870 as a family-owned business under Ralph Lane (R.L.) Polk based in Detroit. Employees went door-to-door throughout Keweenaw towns collecting and verifying information about homeowners, businesses, and municipal organizations to list in large books. Polk published a new version every two years and sold them to local businesses. 

Now, the directories are available in print hardcopy at the Michigan Tech Archives and the Keweenaw National Historical Park's History Center and other libraries. To make the city directory info available in the Keweenaw Time Traveler, we worked with the Michigan Tech Archives to scan each page, digitize the text using OCR software, and then map each individual to a house on the Sanborn Maps using the addresses listed in the directories. Directory data is available from all the towns Polk covered including Calumet & Laurium, Houghton & Hancock, Dollar Bay, Hubbell, and Lake Linden for various years between 1888 and 1939. ​

What can I discover using this data?

The directories list people alphabetically by last name. They only list heads of household and business owners. That means women only appear if they are heads of household (often widows) or business owners. Married women or single women living with their fathers or other family members rarely appear. Children under 18 are not listed.

​A person's residence, indicated as "res," often includes a numerical street address. But before street addresses existed the location was often described, such as "north corner of Agate and Main." The abbreviation "bds" indicates "boards," i.e. the person rents from or is a grown child of the head of household. 

The directories also list the person's job. ​

1917 Business Directory

Many editions of the City Directories also contained a business directory — kind of like the old yellow pages. The Keweenaw Time Traveler Team digitized and mapped the 1917 Business Directory, which was the largest ever published for this region. You can access this data using the search bar, or exploring the "Places" category. 

Other Resources

For more information on these directories contact the Michigan Tech Archives.
You can also read more on our blog: The City Directory Dataset - Keweenaw Time Traveler