 A linotype keyboard machine setting type for the Larimer County Democrat in 1906. |
City Directories and Larimer County Farm and Rural Directories
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City Directories
1902 City Directory - Search / Browse 1904 City Directory - Search / Browse 1906 City Directory - Search / Browse |
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Rural Directories
1939 Rural Directory - Browse 1947 Rural Directory - Browse 1959 Rural Directory - Browse |
The city directories provide significant information for historical research. The directories generally contain four major sections: the Directory Listing of people's names and businesses with their addresses; a Streets Section that lists street addresses with their occupants; a Business Section listing types of businesses and owners; and the Rural Section listing only the people who live in the rural areas. If the directory covers all of Larimer County, then each town will generally include these four sections. Additionally, at the beginning of a town's entry is a listing of City Government and educational institutions and their officials, as well as organizations, churches, lodges, newspapers and their officers. This information was not entered into the on-line database; but most of this information is actually a part of the Directory Listing. This additional information can be viewed on the microfilmed copy of the City Directories in the Reference area of the Main Library.
Norman Peterson, Erick Voshel, Charlotte Myers, Jeff Bridges, and Gretchen Snowden have entered the four major sections of the three earliest city directories (1902, 1904, 1906) into databases. 1902 is only for Fort Collins and 1904 and 1906 are for all of Larimer County. The 1904 and 1906 City Directories did not have a Streets Section. The original 1902 City Directory has a Streets Section, but this was not entered on-line for you can now search the Directory Listing by address, business, or person with the Records Search database. There were some addresses in the 1902 Streets Section that were listed as vacant; these 27 addresses were added to the Directory Listing. The Rural Sections and Business Sections were also added to the Directory Listing in all three directories. Additionally, you can BROWSE the directories and search these text versions by using the FIND function on your internet program. Generally each listing includes the business name or the resident's last name, the first name and their spouse, home address, occupation, business name associated with the resident or business, business address, town, business type such as "Dry Goods", business associates, the building type [residence, business, church, school, etc.], the year, the page of the listing, and comments that include all other miscellaneous information.
The 1939, 1947, and 1959 Larimer County Farm and Rural Directories have been scanned for your use, but are not in a database format. The 1939 Directory provides the rural route for each property and the legal location (section, township, and range). The 1947 and 1959 Directories provide the same information, and also provide the wife's name. 1947 adds the occupation and value of personal property and real property. The 1959 directory adds the type of tractors owned by the farmer. The 1959 directory was copied from the Larimer County Colorado Atlas, so the directory listing also identifies the appropriate property ownership map in the Atlas (available in the Archive).
Also the earliest phone directories are now online; and other on-line Larimer County City Directories and records can be found at the USGenWeb Project Archives.