Missouri Directories

Online Resources

 * Missouri State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1881 at Ancestry ($)
 * Missouri Online Historical Directories - listed by county

History
Directories of heads of households have been published for major cities in Missouri.

Libraries and Archives
The St. Louis Public Library owns these Missouri city directories on microfilm:

St. Louis (City): 1821-1980 St. Louis (County): 1893-1979 St. Louis &amp; Suburban Telephone Directories: 1912-1950 Cape Girardeau: 1912-11935 Carthage: 1937-1960 Columbia: 1940-1960 Hannibal: 1903-1959 Independence: 1911-1960 Jefferson City: 1904-1935 Joplin: 1902-1907 Kansas City: 1865-1960 St. Charles: 1906-1934 Springfield: 1890-1950

You can request copies from these St. Louis Public Library directories cmillar@slpl.org

Directories Online

 * Fold3.com ($) has St. Louis City Directories 1863-1923 (only 3 yrs. missing) available online. Fold3 is free at some libraries including St. Louis County Library.
 * Fold3.com ($) has Kansas City Directories 1865-1923 (only 4 yrs. missing) available online.
 * Ancestry.com ($) has Missouri directories available online in its U.S. City Directories collection.

The Family History Library
The Family History Library has city directories for various years from throughout the state of Missouri including:

St. Louis

1821-60

1863-1935

1942, 1965, 1970 etc. FHL book 977.866 E4p

Kansas City

1860-61

1865-1935

1940, 1975, 1989 etc. FHL book 978.139/K1 E4p

To find directories, consult the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:


 * MISSOURI, [COUNTY] — DIRECTORIES
 * MISSOURI, [COUNTY], [TOWN] — DIRECTORIES

Websites

 * Missouri City Directories
 * St.Louis Public Library
 * US City Directories This web site identifies printed, microfilmed, and online directories and their repositories.
 * Google books has some Directories for St. Louis.