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

Typically, when a person or business would give out their address, they would also tell you the closest cross-street to their address, or name-drop a major street close-by. For example, “1234 Stooge Street, corner Chaplin Avenue”. or “56 Allen Road, just off of Romano Street near Williams”.

Heck, it’s a good practice that many businesses still do in their advertising today.