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Subject: Re: Missing houses in Polk directory
Author: DecMay
Date: Thursday, June 04, 2015
Classification: Query
Surnames:
While a city may have zoning and permit requirements as early as the 1900s, it is the U.S. Post Office that assigns a street address. Could be they had mail delivered to a Post Office Box or the business or office of the husband and did not request residence mail box till later. Remember the times.....the "little woman" usually did not have a job, did not have credit in her own name didn't have a need to receive mail except for letters. Back then they would be addressed to Mr. and Mrs Joseph Smith or Mrs. Joseph Smith.
If it was abandoned and no mail delivery then the PO would strike it from their active delivery address list which I believe all City and county directories purchased from the USPS. So it stands to reason it would not appear in a directory. Remember too, phones were not in every home at that time and there customers phone directories were too few to be used as an address source till the 1950s or 1960s.
Even today our rural street address isn't in any city/county directories as we have never had a USPS mail box on the rural road we build our house on. We have only used a P.O. Box for the last 30 years. The post office did assign us our address for our "house" but it is on a "parcel" of over 30 acres. Even when you search on Internet maps using our address the location pointer is located in the middle of our ranch, no where near the actual house.