Population Stats 50 years ago?

Question

I would like to know the populations of some cities 50 years ago (in 1956) and I'm having a hard time winnowing out this information. Can anyone help point me where to look? The cities I would like this information on are:

New York
London
Paris
Chicago
Los Angeles
Montreal
Toronto
Hamilton, Ontario (Canada)

Many thanks,
Elise

Answer 1

I have a World Almanac And Book of Facts from 1957, close enough? First number is just the city, second number includes srrounding metropolitan area.

New York -- 8,629,000 -- 12,911,000
London -- 3,348,000 -- 8,319,000
Paris -- 2,850,000 -- 6,436,000
Chicago -- 3,620,000 -- 5,495,000
Los Angeles -- 1,970,000 -- 4,367,000
Montreal -- 1,021,000 -- 1,395,000
Toronto -- 675,000 -- 1,117,000
Hamilton, Ontario (Canada) -- 208,000 -- no metropolitan figure given for Hamilton

can I have 10 points for all this? :-)