Researching Historic Homes & Buildings: City Directories

• Abbreviations list for occupations, given names, directions, etc.
• Local government information including political officials, schools, societies, churches, post offices, etc.
• Alphabetical list of names - similar to the white pages in a phone book
• Business guide and alphabetical list - similar to the yellow pages in a phone book
• Reverse directory - listing of occupants by street address

COMING SOON a list of the Wyoming State Archive's City Directory holdings.

Don't see the town you're looking for here? Check your local library, museum, and genealogical or historical society.

Wyoming Libraries Directory
Wyoming State Historical Society
Cheyenne Genealogical & Historical Society

Selected Polk City Directories have been digitized and are available through Ancestry.com or through the gowyld.net online resources portal at your local Wyoming library. 

Search > Card Catalog > Title > "U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995"

For over 150 years, the Polk Company has published annual city directories providing names, addresses, phone numbers (if applicable), occupations and other local information about citizens in a particular city. City directories help to place people in a particular location at a specific time.  If you are researching who lived in your home or how a commercial structure was utilized, you may want to begin by using this resource.

For more detailed information, check out the Wyoming State Archives blog, Postscripts, and their 2014 post "The ABCs of City Directories".

This page of the 1934-35 Casper Polk Directory includes A.E. Chandler. From the entry we find his full name was Arthur E., his wife’s name was Elizabeth. We can also see that Chandler ran the Casper’s Finest Filling Station. Business must have been going well because he had a telephone at both his home and the business.  (WSA Polk Directory, Casper 1934-35)

This reverse directory or “directory of householders” includes the area surrounding the Historic Governor’s Mansion in Cheyenne. This portion of the directory can help you identify neighbors or neighboring businesses. It is also quite helpful when researching buildings. Once you have a name, the “white page” style listing can tell you more about the individual.  (WSA Polk Directory, Cheyenne 1907)