Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County
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1885 Moorhead City Directory

In 1885 R.W. Bliss & Company, Fargo, Dakota Territory, published Bliss’ Fargo and Moorhead Directory for the Year Commencing July 1885. The directory attempts to list each householder in the communities, the person’s address and occupation. Business listings include the proprietors, address and type of business. Here we’ve reproduced the alphabetical and classified business listings from the Moorhead section verbatim. The Fargo section and advertising are not included. Please remember that directories missed many people and misspellings are common.

Picture
In 1885 Moorhead’s east/west running avenues were generally named and the north/south running streets numbered. Moorhead had no house numbering system until 1902. There were only about 2,500 people in the city in 1885. The directory “addresses” were designed to get one close to the person’s house or business. Sometime they only directed one to a neighborhood.

“Northwest Point” was a residential area northwest of downtown. “woodlawn Park” was southwest of downtown. “Oak Grove” was south of Woodlawn Park. A typical listing might read: “Vachon L, baker, Fourth near Front, r same,” meaning L. Vachon’s bakery was on Fourth Street, somewhere near Front Street and his residence (r) was the same. Use the 
abbreviation list to help decipher other abbreviations.

A    B    C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V  W   X   Y   Z

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  • Home
  • About Us
    • Mission
    • Hours and Location
    • Staff & Contacts
    • Board of Directors
    • Accessibility & Accommodations >
      • Site Map
    • Employment
    • HCSCC Supporters
  • Visit Us
    • Accessibility & Accommodations
    • Events >
      • Pangea 2023
      • History On Tap!
    • Exhibitions >
      • Ihdago Manipi
      • Downtown Moorhead: 150 Years of Change
      • Through Television’s Lens: The WDAY TV Negative Collection
      • Ralph's Corner Bar
    • The Hjemkomst >
      • Be More Colorful VR Tour
      • The Hjemkomst Ship Gallery
    • The Hopperstad Stave Church >
      • Be More Colorful VR Tour
    • Comstock House >
      • Comstock Hours and Admission
      • About the Comstock House
    • Bergquist Cabin
    • Viking Connection
    • Field Trips/Tours
  • Shop
    • Heritage Gift Shop
    • Become a Member
  • Join & Support
    • Join Today
    • Donate to HCSCC
    • Volunteer/Intern Opportunities
    • Felix Battles Monument
  • Research
    • COVID19 in Clay County
    • HCSCC Blog
    • Clay County Archives & Research >
      • Holdings
      • Finding Aids
      • Maps >
        • Fire Insurance Maps
        • Plat Books
      • Digital Books
    • Photo Catalog
    • Newsletters
    • HCSCC on MNopedia