Fooled by House Number Changes

As I go through city directories and census returns I am wary of the fact that a lot can happen in the span of 150 years.  I am especially aware that street name changes are not uncommon and the street name I see in 1880 may not be the same in 1920.  Even if the street name has not changed in a hundred years, however, don't make the same mistake I recently made and assume that the numbering of the houses on that street has stayed the same.  That's exactly what I did with my Marsch research in Baltimore.  In fact, I made two mistakes in my search for the Marsch household in 1880:

1.  I assumed they lived at a certain house in 1880 because they lived there in an 1890 city directory.
2.  I assumed there were no changes to the numbering of houses on that street.

Of course we all make assumptions when conducting genealogy research and this time my assumption was wrong.  Luckily I was able to correct my mistake (with the help of some very kind people on Ancestry's message boards).

After a quick search of the 1880 census at Ancestry.com turned up nothing for my Marsch family in Baltimore, I decided to check the original pages myself to see if they were missed in the index.  I knew the family was living at 205 South Chapel Street (near Pratt Street) in 1890 so I assumed they lived at the same address in 1880.  I headed over to Steve Morse's excellent resource to narrow down the Enumeration District for the address where I assumed they lived.

I found South Chapel Street near Pratt in district 10 so I went back to Ancestry to take a look at all of the census pages for ED 10.  I eventually found the street, but the house numbers did not correspond to what I had expected.  Hmm.  I posted a query in the Baltimore message board at Ancestry to see if anyone had insight into what I was missing.  Several helpful people quickly replied and it turns out the house numbers changed in 1887.  One kind person even told me to look for house #54!  So, back to the images.  What did I discover?  There was no 54!  The even numbered side of the street seemed to start at 56.

So it's back to the drawing board as I search for my Marsch family in 1880.  I know the family arrived in Baltimore in August 1879.  I know they were living on South Chapel Street in 1890.  Where were they in 1880?  The mystery continues...