Before you could look up addresses on the internet, how did people find smaller locations like houses and restaurants?

Question

I know atlases and roadmaps were a lot more common, but from my understanding those give more of a broader view of a large area like major roads and stuff. If you needed to find a small subdivision or small road, how would you do that before the internet?

In: 27

Answer 1

Street guides and logical grid layouts.

If the address is in the old square grid part of town, it’s simple.

In my town, Main Street runs north and south, and east-west numbering starts from there. There is no First Street now, but Second Street is up by the river, and north-south numbering starts from there. Even numbered buildings are on the north and west sides of the street, odd numbers on the south and east.

So, if you’re looking for 2408 W. 71 Street, and you know that State Line Road is 1900 West, you would go to State Line Road, travel along it to 71 Street, turn west, go five blocks, and start looking for 2408 on the north side of the street. Easy peasy.

Of course, this skill does little good in the twisty turny suburbal streets.