Find Kings County Phone Directory Records

Kings County covers all of Brooklyn and holds public records that go back more than a century. The Kings County phone directory draws from property filings, business certificates, voter rolls, and court documents stored at the County Clerk office on Adams Street. Brooklyn is the most populated borough in New York City, which means there is a deep pool of records to search through. You can look up names, phone numbers, and home addresses using free online tools like ACRIS, or you can file a FOIL request for records not yet digitized. The Brooklyn Public Library also holds old phone books and city directories from as far back as 1822.

Kings County Clerk Office Records

The Kings County Clerk sits at 360 Adams Street in Brooklyn, NY 11201. Office hours run Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is the main office for public records in Brooklyn. The clerk handles business certificates, oaths of office, military discharges, religious incorporations, judgment docketing, lien recording, and notary applications. Each of these record types can hold a name, an address, and sometimes a phone number. That makes the clerk's office a key stop for any phone directory search in Kings County.

Business certificates are worth a close look. When a sole proprietor or partnership files in Kings County, the clerk records the owner's full name, business name, and street address. These filings are public. You can visit the office in person and ask to see them. Copies cost $0.25 per page under Public Officers Law Section 87(1). If you want to search from home, the state's online tools can help with some of these records, though not all Kings County filings are digitized yet.

Judgment dockets and liens are useful too. They list the names of parties and often show addresses for both the creditor and the debtor. These records are public under FOIL. You can search them at the clerk's office or request copies by mail.

Brooklyn Phone Directory and ACRIS

The ACRIS system is one of the best free tools for a Kings County phone directory search. ACRIS stands for Automated City Register Information System. It covers property records for all five boroughs, including Brooklyn, and holds data going back to 1966. The system is run by the NYC Department of Finance and gets updated every day.

You can search ACRIS by address, borough, block and lot number, document type, or party name. A party name search is the most direct way to find someone. Type in a last name and first name, pick Kings County as the borough, and the system pulls up every property document tied to that person. Deeds, mortgages, satisfactions, and liens all show up. Each result shows the document date, parties involved, and property address. Cover pages are free to view. Full document images come as PDFs.

The ACRIS portal page on the NYC Department of Finance site gives an overview of how the system works and what records it holds.

Property records are some of the most detailed public documents you can find. A deed will list the buyer's name and mailing address. A mortgage shows the borrower's name and the property address. Liens tie names to properties and often include contact info for the filing party. All of this feeds into what makes a phone directory search in Brooklyn so effective through ACRIS.

Kings County Property Phone Records

The NYC Finance ACRIS page serves as the main gateway for property record lookups in Kings County and the rest of New York City. This page links to Property Profile Reports, which pull together all recorded documents for a single property into one view. You get the owner name, address, assessed value, and a list of every deed, mortgage, and lien on file.

Property Profile Reports are free. They update daily. If you know the address of a property in Brooklyn, you can pull the report and see who owns it right now. The owner's mailing address shows up on the report. This is a fast way to find contact details for a Kings County phone directory search without filing any formal request.

For bulk searches or research projects, ACRIS also offers data feeds. These let you download large sets of property records at once. The data includes party names, addresses, and document details for every filing in Kings County going back decades.

FOIL Requests for Kings County Records

New York's Freedom of Information Law covers all records held by Kings County offices. FOIL is laid out in Public Officers Law, Article 6, Sections 84 through 90. Any person can file a request. You do not need to be a resident. You do not need to give a reason for wanting the records.

To file a FOIL request in Kings County, put your request in writing. Include your name and contact info. Describe the records you want with enough detail for the office to find them. Be specific about dates, names, and document types. Send it to the Kings County Clerk at 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, or use the borough's online FOIL portal if one is available. The office must respond within five business days.

Copies cost $0.25 per page for records up to 9 by 14 inches. In-person inspection is free. If the office denies your request, they must cite a specific exemption under Public Officers Law Section 87(2). Common exemptions cover personal privacy, ongoing law enforcement matters, and trade secrets. You have 30 days to file an appeal. If the appeal fails, you can go to court within 120 days.

FOIL is a strong tool for phone directory searches. Records that list names and addresses but are not yet online can still be accessed this way. Voter rolls, permit applications, and licensing records all fall under FOIL.

Brooklyn Library Phone Directory Resources

The Brooklyn Public Library is a major resource for phone directory research in Kings County. The library holds historical city directories for Brooklyn dating all the way back to 1822. These old directories list residents by name along with their occupation and home address. They are one of the few ways to find contact info for people who lived in Brooklyn more than a hundred years ago.

Telephone directories from the early 1900s are also on file at the library. These are actual phone books that list names, addresses, and phone numbers for Brooklyn residents and businesses. Flipping through them gives you a snapshot of who lived where and what their number was at the time. The library keeps these in its Brooklyn Collection, which is open to the public.

Beyond old phone books, the Brooklyn Public Library gives free access to Ancestry.com and HeritageQuest. These databases hold census records, vital records, and immigration documents that include addresses and sometimes phone numbers. Census records for Brooklyn go back to 1790 through the federal census and 1855 through the New York State census. The library also has the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper archive from 1841 to 1955, which can turn up names and addresses in news stories, legal notices, and classifieds.

Kings County Voter and Vital Records

The NYC Board of Elections keeps voter registration records for Kings County. These records include each voter's name, home address, party affiliation, and voting history. Voter rolls are public in New York for political and non-commercial use. They can be a useful source for a phone directory lookup when other methods come up short.

Vital records are another path. NYC vital records are handled by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Birth certificates from 1910 onward and death certificates from 1949 onward are on file at 125 Worth Street in Manhattan. The fee is $15 per certificate. These records contain names and addresses. Birth certificates list the parents' names and home address at the time of birth. Death certificates show the decedent's last known address.

For older vital records, the Municipal Archives at 31 Chambers Street has birth records from 1855 to 1909, death records from 1855 to 1948, and marriage records from 1950 to 1995. These can fill gaps in a Kings County phone directory search, especially for historical lookups. Access is free for in-person visits, and many records have been digitized.

How to Search Kings County Phone Records

Start with the free online tools. ACRIS is the fastest option for property-based lookups in Kings County. Go to the ACRIS site, pick "Party Name Search," select Kings as the borough, and type in the name you want to find. Results come up in seconds.

If the person you need is not in property records, try the state corporation database. The NYS Open Data portal has a list of all active corporations in New York. You can search by entity name, CEO name, or filing county. Results include the process address, which is often the owner's home or office address. This is free to use and does not require any account.

For records that are not online, visit the Kings County Clerk at 360 Adams Street in Brooklyn. Bring a valid ID. Ask to inspect public records. In-person inspection costs nothing. If you find what you need, copies are $0.25 per page. The staff can help point you to the right record books or electronic indexes.

You can also file a FOIL request by mail or email. Keep these tips in mind:

• Describe the records with as much detail as you can
• Include the person's name and any dates you know
• Specify whether you want copies or just want to look
• Ask about fees before the clerk starts pulling records
• Allow up to five business days for a response

Kings County Phone Directory for Genealogy

Genealogy research in Kings County benefits from the sheer volume of records kept in Brooklyn. The NYPL genealogy division covers Brooklyn census records from 1790 to 1950 through the federal census and New York State census records from 1855 to 1925. These records list every person in a household with their name, age, birthplace, and sometimes occupation and address.

Cross-referencing census data with old phone directories from the Brooklyn Public Library can help you trace a family's moves across Brooklyn over the decades. If someone shows up in the 1920 census at a certain address and in a 1925 phone book at a different one, you have a timeline of where they lived. Adding property records from ACRIS fills in even more detail, especially for the period after 1966 when digital records begin.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle archive at the library covers 1841 to 1955. Newspaper records often mention names and addresses in legal notices, obituaries, real estate transactions, and classified ads. These can confirm details found in other Kings County phone directory sources or add new leads to follow up on.

Nearby Counties and Cities

Kings County borders several other counties in New York City. Each one has its own clerk office and public records. If your phone directory search goes beyond Brooklyn, these nearby county pages can help.

Cities in Kings County

Kings County is one of the five boroughs of New York City. All of Brooklyn falls under the city government.