How do small cities work? ie: The addresses and layouts I am writing a story that has a small town.?

I need to be able to give my people address and I need to know where to place city hall, resturants, ect. And things like the sewage treatment plant does every small town have one?

Public Comments

1. The best thing you can do is visit the city where your story takes place. If that's not possible in person, then you should be able to find films and books with photos, phone directories and local newspapers either online or at your local library. I live in New York State. Each city, town, village, hamlet is a distinct, sovereign political entity, with no obligation to any of its neighbor communities when it comes to how local tax dollars are spent. As if that's not confusing enough - the school district, another place that levies taxes, is divided without regard to the political boundaries. If I were going to write about the town I live in now, I would be visiting town board meetings, where decisions are made on how tax dollars are spent. I'd be walking around in the different neighborhoods looking at whether the streets have sidewalks and whether the houses all look like they were built by the same developer. You cannot write convincingly about a place unless you can see it in your mind's eye. While some writers, like JK Rowling, can make magical places seem very real, most of us have to experience a place with our five senses. You can invent a small town, and use information about existing towns to fill in the blanks, or you can choose a small town to visit and spend time there while you write.
2. I grew up in a small town and street go north and south or east and west no weird curvy subdivisions. There is the main street that has all of the businesses on it. Post office, library, bank, restaurants, and bars and is usually a state highway. Schools and churches aren't normally located on the main street but some times are. Small town usually have ways they name there streets too. After founders, trees, presidents, etc. The sewage treatment plant (yes little town have them) is located outside of town usually a mile or less. I lived on a north street and some time the person that lived on the south part would get my ups packages but not my mail because you have to pick it up at the post office. Hope this helped. You can also use google earth