Jackson County Historical Society

Archives, Research Library and Archives

CITY DIRECTORIES (11 November 2007)

The Jackson County Historical Society collects, preserves, and makes available to researchers materials that provide a broad insight into the county's civic, social, cultural, economic, and educational development.

According to Janice Schultz, Branch Librarian at the Midwest Genealogy Center, “City directories are a snapshot of urban life in any given year. Once can trace ancestors year by year instead of once every ten years as with the census. One can trace house histories and neighborhoods. One can find out who was living at a specific address years ago.” She ads that, “Each city directory has a different look depending on the era in which it was printed.... It may have trolley stops listed.... Once can find advertisements, businesses listed by category, alphabetical lists of people, and addresses in alphabetical order by street name, and phone numbers in numerical order by exchange. In the alphabetical lists of names one could find names of people over 18 years of age, occupation and place of employment, complete street address including apartment number, the [spouse’s] name and sometimes a maiden name initial, widow’s listing the deceased husband’s name, telephone number, business firms showing the name of the business owner, corporations showing officers, and business partnerships showing partners. In the address section once can find out if the occupant is the homeowner, which addresses are vacant, and an indication of new occupants at an address.” (Genealogy News Bites newsletter of the Mid-Continent Public Library’s Genealogy and Local History Branch, Volume 1, Issue 4, April 2005)

City directories are arranged alphabetically by the city located in Jackson County, Missouri. Each listing is then followed by the inclusive dates that are currently available at the Jackson County Historical Society. Unlike telephone books that may cover more than one town in one volume, city directories are specific to the boundaries of the city or cities covered. For this reason, researchers should know the exact political subdivision the person or business was located when searching through city directories.

See separate listing of telephone directories. Also consult various Missouri gazetteers for municipalities in Jackson County, Missouri.

Blue Springs, Missouri

1905-1906 (in Independence directory); 1974-1977; 1979; 1981-1983; 1985; 1988; 1990-1991

Grandview, Missouri

1976; 1980

Independence, Missouri

1866-1867 Business Guide only (in J. West Goodwin’s Pacific Railway Business Guide and Gazetteer of Missouri and Kansas); 1888-1889; 1899-1900; 1905 (in Kansas City directory); 1905-06; 1906-1910 (in Kansas City directory); 1911; 1911 (in Kansas City directory); 1912-1916 (in Kansas City directory); 1920; 1924-1954 (every two years during this period); 1956-1957; 1959-1991

Jackson County, Missouri

2000

Kansas City, Missouri

1859-1860; 1860-1861; 1865-1866; 1866-1867 (in J. West Goodwin’s Pacific Railway Business Guide and Gazetteer of Missouri and Kansas); 1867-1868; 1870-1885; 1887-1892; 1894-1942; 1945; 1947-1953; 1955-1990; 1994-1995. It is speculated that there were no directories published during the Civil War and World War II.

Lee’s Summit, Missouri

1888-1889 (in Independence directory); 1905-06 (in Independence directory); 1975

Raytown, Missouri

1960; 1962-1963; 1965; 1967; 1968; 1970-1986; 1987-1991

Thank you for helping us to assemble a more complete collection. Donations are welcome. Please contact us.

Other institutions with large collections of these types of records are the Kansas City (Missouri) Public Library's Special Collections, and Mid-Continent Public Library's Genealogy Branch. The three organizations work together to share duplicates to build one another’s collections.