The 1927 and 1955 directories have been run through an optical character recognition (OCR) program so they are keyword searchable. If you are looking for a particular name, simply enter that name by clicking on Edit and then Find in Adobe Acrobat.

1927 Polk’s Directory

Homestead was booming in 1926, along with all of South Florida. Polk’s published its first directory for the Homestead area in 1927 due to the demand for such a guide. After the real estate crash, there would not be another Polk’s directory published until 1955. These directories are invaluable for those studying the early history of this area as they cover the area from Goulds south to Florida City and west into the Redlands.

1927 Polk’s Directory.

Download an index to the 1927 directory in MSWord:

Index to 1927 Directory.

1938 Redland District News Directory

The Redland District News, owned by James W. English, was established in 1935 because English and the owner of the Homestead Leader-Enterprise had did not agree on many issues. In 1938, English published a directory, similar to the other directories published at the time, that included residents who lived from Benson, which was at S.W. 136th St. and U.S. 1 down to Tavernier in the Florida Keys. It provides a lot of information about the residents and businesses in the area and was the only directory published in South Dade between the years 1927 to 1955.

Download a scanned copy of the directory that has been run through an optical character recognition (OCR) program so that it is searchable:

1938 Redland District News Directory

Polk’s 1955 Directory

The 1955 directory was the first Polk’s directory for South Dade to be published since 1927.

1955 Polk’s Directory of Homestead