Researching the Bay City Historical District

I wisely signed up for a smaller area when I had the chance to choose.  Mine is a four block area centered on Center Ave and Monroe.  I'm trying to find out who has lived there in the past 130 years.  It is interesting but not as easy as you might think.

Most of this is done with Polk City Directories, which we have in the Historical Library.  In the earliest years, 1867 say you pretty much have to look at everything to see what might be there.  Later on, in the 1880's there are three Bay City Directories on books.google.com .  Finally, from 1920 on you can check who lived in an area by address.

I'm making progress, but I have a bunch more to go.