A recap of available maps & resources with a Ferndale Focus. If you have additions or corrections please contact us at: info@ferndalehistoricalsociety.org

LIBRARY OF MICHIGAN: The Library of Michigan provides powerful resources to Michigan residents for free! This includes access to normally paid resources like Newspapers.Com and some elements of Ancestry.Com. It also includes Sanborn maps, local and international newspapers, military records, and a treasure trove of searchable history! Here is a GUIDE to get you started.

R.L. POLK BOOKS (1920s-1950s): These fragile books provide a glimpse of who lived at a street address in the past. They list addresses with names (reverse of phonebook listing we are familiar with) and often include family members at that address. They also list name with address and businesses (like a phonebook). Due to their fragility access is limited - but museum staff will be available to help. A few such books are also available on Ancestry.com, local museums, and some libraries (a list is HERE).

YEARBOOKS: The museum has a complete collection of yearbooks! More information is available HERE

ATLASES & MORE: The museum has many atlases as far back as 1857 as well as "Oakland County Highways" publications. To see what we have - and what we are looking for - click HERE

SANBORN MAPS: Originally published by The Sanborn Map Company (Sanborn), the maps were created to allow fire insurance companies to assess their total liability in urbanized areas. They contain detailed information about properties and buildings which can be compared year over year when researching history. Click the guide above and scroll to the bottom of page 1 to start your research.

AERIAL MAPS: Oakland county maintains a fascinating set of aerial maps useful to compare changes over time. Be sure to visit their site HERE Note: they often change that web address, if the link no longer works, let us know and search their home page for Maps HERE

Another source of aerial maps to browse is HERE They claim to have rolls on non-indexed photos that you can browse through to discovers some gems. They even make a game of users identifying various locations. Good luck!

DTE AERIAL MAPS: Wayne State University hosts an interesting set of aerial maps provided by DTE. These range from 1949 up thru the 1990s for Oakland and other counties. Unfortunately there is very limited coverage of Ferndale. WSU made a good upgrade of the site in 2025 - and it is much easier to navigate. The latest link is HERE

STREET NAMES: On March 18, 1920 dozens of streets in Ferndale were renamed to reduce mailing confusion with other communities. For example Plum Street became East Cambourne and Woodle Street became West Saratoga. A few street names were also changed in later years. This can create confusion when tracking down area history. Fortunately the museum has a list of street name changes, plus a curious "blueprint map" created just before the name change, to help solve mysteries!

PLAT MAPS: A comprehensive land recording of the real estate or real property's dimensions, drawn to scale, showing the divisions. Usually show subdivisions broken into blocks with streets and alleys. Further refinement often splits blocks into individual lots, usually for the purpose of selling the described lots; this has become known as "subdivision". The Museum has some Plat Maps on file. A wonderful vintage plat map, showing "J.L. Hudson" owning a big chunk of Ferndale is online HERE

SUBDIVISION MAP: It can be fun to look back on the history of your home's subdivision. The map below shows the original and current subdivisions that make-up Ferndale. If you are not sure what subdivision your home is in, use the BSA property tax records above and look at the description. The descriptions usually include the subdivision name and lot number. We gathered some interesting advertising in a file HERE about the booming developments in what would become Ferndale!

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: You may have noticed many maps are from the Library of Congress (LOC). They have a well organized collection which is fun to explore starting HERE

ZILLOW MAPS: Used primarily for real estate transactions, Zillow does provide current maps and property detail HERE

GOOGLE MAPS: A fantastic source of current maps and images of current properties is HERE There is also Google Earth which often contains satellite views from prior years HERE

CITY RECORDS: Although not a "map", the city website offers extensive details about a specific address. Start HERE by entering a street (or specific address) then click to view building permits, utilities, legal description, etc. City Council Minutes are also a valuable source of information about a specific address. They are available HERE

COUNTY MAPS: Oakland County provides an excellent current map generator. You can zoom in or out to set the area of your map and select features & detail level. You can then "print" and save it as a PDF for free (or pay them a few dollars and they will print your map from letter size to poster size and ship it to you). Visit their website HERE. Once you have created your map, click "PRINT" in the upper left image area to see print options. Have fun!

1950s HANGOUT MAP:A primary theme of the annual Woodward Dream Cruise is to relive the 1950s car cruising scene. To help visualize that, here is a map of popular hangouts in the 1950s!

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE COPY

MAPS AS ART: Maps are popular "art" for sale on Etsy and other sites. A Ferndale example is HERE

HISTORY OF YOUR HOME: Ideas and resources to research your home are HERE

U.S. CENSUS RECORDS: These offer an interesting history of who lived in your home. It can sometimes be tedious to find specific info and hard to read old hand-written records, but usually worth the search! Data are delayed 72 years to protect living individuals. These are available in the museum, and many places online (Ancestry.com and official Census site HERE). Extensive family history, and census records, are available for free at the Church of Latter-day Saints website HERE.

MUSEUM MEMBER RESOURCES: Several historic publications, yearbooks, and other documents are available online to active members. Details are HERE

NEWSPAPERS: Newspapers offer a fascinating glimpse into history. They are easy to search for a specific home, business address, family name, and other key words. Newspaper stories can often be misleading - so best to find corroborating stories from different papers or eras.

The museum has nearly all Ferndale Gazette issues from 1927-1979 but they are NOT online yet. We are working to obtain funds/grants to put them online eventually. To learn more about the Gazette click HERE.

However, the Royal Oak Tribune did a wonderful job of covering Ferndale for its entire life (before and after the Gazette was published). It is available for free (link below).

NOTE: Many papers below are free, but a few require access via the Library of Michigan. Here is a GUIDE to the Library of Michigan get you started.