On this date in 1785, the first city directory in the United States was published. Fittingly, it was in the young country’s place of birth — Philadelphia. The directory’s title was the unwieldy “Macpherson’s Directory, for the City and Suburbs of Philadelphia, extending to Prime-Street, southward; Maiden-Street, northward; and from the River Delaware to Tenth-Street, westward.” It contained 6,250 resident names. The 1790 Census found Philadelphia’s population to be just over 28,500, making it America’s second largest urban place, behind perpetual first place New York City. Today, Philadelphia is the nation’s fifth largest city, with a population of over 1.5 million people. For genealogists and the curious, the 1785 Macpherson’s directory is available online in paperback. Profile America is in its 19th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.