Census Sunday: Street Name Changes and Enumerator Errors

In 1940, my great-grandparents, Louis and Adele Licciardi, lived with their two adult daughters, Dina and Yola, on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio. (Click on image for larger view.) On this form, their surname looks as if it is spelled 'Silccirdi,' which is probably just a mistake of the enumertor (not the only one, either, as we will see.)

The Licciardi Family, 1940 U.S. Census

My great-grandfather's occupation is listed as 'Sewing' and 'Men's Clothing'.  He owned and operated a business known as 'Paris Art Embroidery' in downtown Cleveland, and here it is listed in the business section of the 1940 Cleveland City Directory:

1940 Cleveland, Ohio City Directory, Business Section

My grandmother, Dina, who is listed as 'Diana' on the census form, and her younger sister, Yola, are working as a 'Saleslady' and 'Cashier', respectively.  In the residential section of the 1940 Cleveland Directory, we actually see that they are working at The May Company, which was one of the major department stores in the city at the time. (Dina is listed as 'Dine' and Yola is listed as 'Viola.'

1940 Cleveland, Ohio City Directory, Residential Section

The census form lists their address as 3521 East Blvd, and the city directory lists it as 3591 East Blvd.  I searched for both addresses on Google Maps and Google Street View and came up with nothing; there are not even any addresses on the current extent of East Blvd that are close to the 3500s.  My initial thought was that this part of the street had changed names between 1940 and the present day.  To solve this mystery, I decided to consult the 1940 census enumeration district (ED) maps, which, fortunately, are found online.

In my humble opinion, the easiest way to get to the right map is to use this search link at stevemorse.org.  You simply select the state, county, and city in which you are interested and you will get a list of links to the available 1940 enumeration maps:

How do you know which map is the area you are interested in, especially if you are searching a larger city?  Go back to your census form and find the city Ward number, which is in the upper part of the sheet.  In this case, we are interested in Ward 28.  I had to search each map individually until I found the big number 28.  Once I did, I went back to this link (large-city street finder) on stevemorse.org, chose the correct state, city, and ED number, and the page will then list all of the streets covered by THAT enumeration district. (The ED number is in the upper-right corner of the census form - in this case, it is 92-683.) This process is essentially a way of finding my great-grandparents' most immediate neighborhood, which I outlined in the red box below (click on image for larger view.)

1940 ED Map, Cleveland, Ohio

Stevemorse.org; Results of Large-City Street Finder

Indeed, if you look closely on the old ED map, there is East Blvd, right between Glenboro and Clarebird.  I searched for 'Glenboro Dr, Cleveland, Ohio' on Google Maps, and here is what I got:

Oh look, that street between Clarebird and Glenboro is no longer called East Blvd, but instead has been renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.  (By the way, there is still a road known as East Blvd in this part of Cleveland, which simply added to my confusion.)

Turns out, the census enumerator wrote the wrong house number for the Licciardi family's address on the 1940 form.  He wrote '3521,' which, if you look carefully, doesn't even fit the sequence of the other addresses on the page. And, upon further searching, I discovered that there isn't even a lot at 3521 MLK Jr. Blvd. Thank goodness for the city directory, which DID have the family's correct address (3591).  

I HAVE located the home via Google Street View and will be talking about it in a separate post later this week, so stay tuned!

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder