Free Online Montana City Directories

City and business directories are available online from all over the U.S. and are what I consider another important set of information that can assist you in advancing your family history and genealogy research.

This activity of presenting links is a collaborative effort between The Ancestor Hunt and Miriam Robbins, who for years has made available the Online Historical Directories website, which presents links to directories of all types that are available online, including free collections as well as those available only via subscription. I wish to thank Miriam for her help in launching this category of records at The Ancestor Hunt.

So, what kinds of directories are available to the researcher?  Naturally city and business directories, but also telephone directories, and alumni, farm, lodge, rural, and social directories.

What can you find in these records? How about:

• Full names, including middle names
• Spouse name
• Occupation
• Widows, working women, and adult children at home.
• Maps
• Businesses (and index to advertisers).
• Addresses and maps of churches, schools, funeral homes, cemeteries, post offices, courts, hospitals, benevolent associations, and newspapers.
• Whether a woman is a widow (including the name of her husband).
• List of marriages and deaths of the previous year.
• Death date.
• etc.

Here are a few good primers on the benefits of searching historical city and other directories:​

• FamilySearch – United States Directories
• How to Use City Directories In Your Genealogy Research 
• What’s In A City Directory? (a 10-article series about City Directories)

And here are various places where you can find other city directories online: 

• Where to Find City Directories Online

Note: Some of the links listed take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage, please make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.

(Updated October 2022)

Links to these free collections are presented initially with statewide collections, followed in alphabetical order by city or county. Generally, the publishing company is included in the reference to the collection, along with the collection title, and the date(s) of the directory:

Statewide

• Central Montana Business and Professional Directory 1948
• Central Montana Farm and Ranch Directory 1962-1964
• Central Montana Farm Directory 1949-50
• Central Montana Farm Directory 1953-54
• Central Montana Farm Directory 1957-1958
• McKenney’s Pacific Coast Directory, 1883-1884
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory – v. 2 (1880-81)
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1880-81 Part 1
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1880-81 Part 2
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1880-81 Part 2
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1882-83 Part 1
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1882-83 Part 2
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1888-89 Part 1
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1888-89 Part 2
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1888-89 Part 3
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1888-89 Part 4
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 1
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 2
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 3
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 4
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 5
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 6
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 7
• Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory. 1882-83 Part 3
• Montana Advertising Directory, Steele, 1883-4
• Montana Volunteer Farm and Rural Representatives Directory, Montana State Employment Service, 1972
• Montana Volunteer Farm Labor Representatives Directory, Montana State Employment Service, 1968
• Montana, Madison County, school teachers Directories, 1897-1930
• Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1916. Central Montana
• Pacific Coast Business Directory, 1867
• Pacific Coast Business Directory, Langley, 1867
• Pacific Coast Directory, 1828
• Pacific Coast Directory, 1886-1887
• Telephone Directory [Central Montana] 1946
• Telephone Directory 1925, Central Montana
• Telephone Directory 1937, Central Montana
• Telephone Directory 1945, Central Montana
• Telephone Directory 1947, Central Montana
• The Pacific Coast Directory – 1871-1873
• The Pacific Coast Directory – 1878
• The Pacific Coast Directory – 1880-81
• The Pacific Coast Directory – 1883-84

Anaconda

• Polk Anaconda, Montana, City Directory, 1910

Billings

• 1883 Billings City Directory
• 1894 Billings City Directory
• 1900-1901 Billings City Directory
• 1901-1902 Billings City Directory
• 1903-1904 Billings City Directory
• 1905-1906 Billings City Directory
• 1912 Billings City Directory
• 1913 Billings City Directory
• 1914 Billings City Directory
• 1916 Billings City Directory
• 1917 Billings City Directory

Buffalo

• Buffalo Telephone Directory 1937 Buffalo & Judith Gap, Montana

Culbertson

• Business Directory for Pioneer Culbertson, Montana 1902-1934

Deer Lodge

• Deer Lodge, Montana City Directory – 1965

Dillon

• Dillon, Montana, City Directory – 1964

Flathead County

• R. L. Polk & Co.’s Kalispell and Whitefish Cities and Flathead and Lincoln Counties Directory 1922-23
• R. L. Polk & Co.’s Kalispell City and Flathead and Lincoln Counties Directory 1913-1914.
• R. L. Polk & Co.’s Kalispell City and Flathead and Lincoln Counties Directory 1917-18
• R.L. Polk & Co.’s Kalispell City and Flathead and Lincoln Counties Directory 1911
• R.L. Polk & Co.’s Kalispell City and Flathead and Lincoln Counties Directory 1915-1916.
• R.L. Polk & Co.’s Kalispell City Directory and Flathead and Lincoln Counties Directory 1909-10.
• R. L. Polk & Co.’s Kalispell City Directory and Flathead County Directory 1901-1902
• R. L. Polk & Co.’s Kalispell City Directory and Flathead County Directory 1903-4
• R.L. Polk & Co.’s Kalispell City and Flathead County Directory 1907-8.

Fort Benton

• Business Directory for Pioneer Fort Benton, Montana 1860 – 1936

Helena

• Helena (Lewis and Clark Co., Montana) City Directory – 1898
• Helena (Lewis and Clark Co., Montana) City Directory – 1922
• Helena Directory, 1883-84

Lewiston

• R.L. Polk & Co.’s Lewistown [Montana] City Directory 1904
• R.L. Polk & Co.’s Lewistown [Montana] City Directory 1908 including Fergus County and Harlowton, Montana.
• R.L. Polk & Co.’s Lewistown [Montana] City Directory 1910 including Fergus County
• R.L. Polk & Co.’s Lewistown [Montana] City Directory 1912 including Fergus and Musselshell County
• R.L. Polk & Co.’s Lewistown [Montana] City Directory 1914 including Fergus and Musselshell County
• R.L. Polk & Co.’s Lewistown [Montana] City Directory 1916 including Fergus and Musselshell County
• R.L. Polk & Co.’s Lewistown [Montana] City Directory 1918 and Fergus and Musselshell County Directory.
• R.L. Polk & Co.’s Lewistown [Montana] City Directory 1922-23 including Fergus and Judith Basin County

Roundup

• Business Directory for Pioneer Roundup, Montana 1908-1934

Sheridan

• Sheridan City and Sheridan County Directory and Buffalo, Johnson County, Wyoming – 1960

Teton County

• Directory, Teton County, Montana, 1911