Tucson Directories

Even before the telephone came to Tucson, directories of businesses and residents were published. Paper copies of the directories can be found at the historic society but they are in resident name order so finding a particular address is very difficult.

1901 directory: To help me determine the construction of my house, I downloaded the 1901 directory, the earliest I've found with my address listed. This link will take you to the searchable PDF of the 1901 directory: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YdvSsdcHKxqezLKVnbAsTF6pG7OoPJmv/view?usp=sharing

If you have a browser or PDF software to search PDFs, you will be able to find individual street addresses. I searched for my house with just the street number and found it quickly using the Chrome browser. Most browsers can search and read PDFs. If your browser can't read PDFs, you might choose to download and install Slim PDF (https://www.investintech.com/resources/freetools/slimpdfreader/) on your Windows, Mac or Linux computer.

Other directories: The Arizona Memory Project website has directories for 1881, 1883-1884, 1901 and many following years (https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/digital/collection/azcitydirect/id/136/rec/23). The early year directories are small and easy to view. The larger later years take longer to load. All directories I tried could be searched for a street address.

• Go to the above link.

• Click on the desired year in the right side column.

• After the directory front cover appears, click on VIEW at the upper right corner.

• Click the search icon at the upper left or press ctrl+f.

• Enter the house number or other search term in the dialog box.

• Scroll through the search hits using the arrows.

• You may find a few entries with the same house number.