Another way of locating Wards and
Enumeration Districts in the 1930 Census is the
DIRECTIONAL COORDINATE
METHOD. This is the method I personally use, and in just about
all cases it is not
necessary to read any Ward or
Enumeration District
Descriptions. You don’t
even
need a present day map. It’s quick, it’s easy, and the
only snag
to the
procedure is that
you will need a copy of one of the following:
"Turner’s Best Chicagoland
Street Guide" *
POINTers in Person
Chicago - North Chicago Street Name Changes
or other Chicago
Directional
Coordinate Table.
1. Assign
Two Directional Coordinates to your TARGET ADDRESS
a. Take your target address and divide it into
two parts
Example: 4848 North Sawyer Ave. =
1. 4848 North
and
2. SAWYER
b. The first part of the address is
the first Directional Coordinate. This is usually
a street number and a street direction.
Example: 4848 NORTH = First Directional Coordinate = 4848 N
c. The second part of the address is a street
name. To find the Second Directional
Coordinate you must look up this street name in
POINTers in Person
Chicago - North Chicago Street Name Changes
Turner’s Best Chicagoland
Street Guide" *
or other
Chicago Directional Coordinate Table.
Example: SAWYER = 3232 West. (in "Turner's" book)
You now have two directional coordinates. 4848 NORTH, and 3232 WEST.
2. PLOT these
coordinates on the Maps on this site. (example shown in map below)
The maps on this site show Directional Coordinates in GRAY.
a.
Find the Ward
Look at the Chicago Ward
Map. You will notice that the street coordinates are
shown in Gray.
Find the first coordinate in your target address on the map. You will be
looking
for that area of the map that has coordinates as close as possible to your
target
coordinate. In the example, 4848 N is on the NORTH SIDE OF CHICAGO. Look
for the area of the map around 4800 NORTH. This is the BLOCK of addresses
from 4800 North to 4899 North. You will
not see 4800 North. You will
see 4600
NORTH (Wilson Ave.) and to the north of it is 5000 North (Argyle Ave.).
You know your first target coordinate is between these two streets.
Draw an
imaginary line across the map for this estimated coordinate. (Dotted
Line shown
in
red on
the example below)
Find the second coordinate in your target address on the map. Look on the
map
for coordinates as close as possible to 3200 West. This is the block that will
have addresses from 3200 West to 3299 West. You will see that 3200 West is
Kedzie Ave. Your target coordinate is 3232 West, so you know that this is
located just west of Kedzie Ave.
(You can see that the location of 3232 West is
not as far west as Crawford Ave. (Crawford Ave. is 4000 WEST). Draw an
imaginary line across the map for
this estimated coordinate. (Dotted Line shown
in
red on
the example below)
You now have two imaginary lines on the map.
The point at which these two
lines meet is your WARD. In the example,
4848 North Sawyer is found
within
the boundaries of WARD 40.
Portion of Chicago Ward Map showing the north side of Chicago.
b. Find the Enumeration District.
Select the Individual Ward map you
found in step 1. (In the example,
4848 North Sawyer was found in Ward 40.)
Plot the two coordinates you found in
step two. 4848 North and 3232 West.
NOTE: When your target address
falls ON a boundary line remember that EVEN numbered
addresses are on the north or west side of the street. ODD numbered
addresses are on the
east or south side of the street.
Portion of Enumeration District Map for Ward 40
There you go! Done. Ward 40, ED 1412
*
"Turner's Best Chicagoland Street
Guide" is available at most Chicago area bookstores or
on the web. The cost is about seven dollars.
Some street names will not appear in the "Turner's" guide. For streets names
that have been
changed or
that no longer exist, I highly recommend Daniel Niemiec's excellent
website.
POINTers in Person
Chicago - North Chicago Street Name Changes
