Hungry for Neighborhood History? Try a Nibble from 1930
Reprinted from the November, 2025 UMNA e-newsletter.
In 2025 longtime neighbor Linda Whitney, of Luzerne Street, sent in a circa 1930 directory listing of registered voters/residents of Upper Monroe from the Monroe County Board of Elections. While the directory does not include every resident, the beauty of this particular find is that it sorts the list by street name rather than by last name. So, you can look up a street address to find out who was living at that residence when the llist was published.
PRO TIPS: The list is separated into three “election districts”. As a result, some streets are in more than one election district. If you don’t see a particular address in one election district, keep looking. It’s there somewhere. Also, only the even side of Field Street is listed. The odd side is in Swillburg (a different election district).
By 1930 the Upper Monroe neighborhood was almost fully developed. There have been many changes since then, of course; not least being the addition of an apartment complex, a nursing home, a few infill homes and the division of some larger homes into apartments or storefronts after the Great Depression. Still, the die was mostly cast by 1930 and so it stands today mostly as it was then.
There’s quite a bit of storytelling to do about the period just before this directory was published. Streets were added. Street names changed and changed again. At least one notable housing developer associated with a prominent business located in the neighborhood failed. Then there’s the reservoir, the armory and the wide waters to consider. What about the lumber yard? We’re pretty sure we saw something about massive annual tree burnings on Cobbs Hill. Crazy! More stories indeed…
If you have a local history story related to this directory or from any other sources, please send it to [email protected]. We are very, very, VERY curious. “Curiosity is our middle name!”
And UMNA is looking for more Local History Nerds. If you self-identify as someone interested in local history, write to [email protected]
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