Historic City Directories for Stillwater, Minnesota

Stillwater City Directories are an essential resource for learning about Stillwater residents from 1876 through the present.

Who is included? Directories listed residents rather than owners, which is valuable for finding the location of residents who rented their home. They can also indentify the primary residence of individuals who owned multiple properties in Stillwater. The directories generally included civic listings of public officials, churches, societies, clubs, and other social organizations. They also include classified business directories. A few years' city directories also contained reverse listings, indicating who lived at a given address.

What are the limitations? For families, directories typically listed only the head of household, which in many cases was the husband. However, adult sons and daughters were often listed as renters or boarders in the parents' house.

The earliest directories pre-date the establishment of house numbers, and instead give the general location of the residents (often a nearby street intersection). Stillwater's house numbers also changed in some neighborhoods—including downtown—in the late 19th century.

Finally, as with any record of this nature, not everyone shared their information with the publishers. Census and land records can help work around some of the directories' limitations.

The following directories are available online or in person at the Stillwater Public Library. Additional years may be available at Washington County Historical Society or Minnesota Historical Society.