Library of Congress - Sanborn Fire Maps
I stumble on this during COVID researching my hometown.
As Wikipedia states, "the maps were created to allow fire insurance companies to assess their total liability in urbanized areas of the United States."
Imagine a hand drawn "Google Map" of the downtown area showing business type, building construction, etc.
It's interesting to compare maps over time as the downtown changes, usually because of fire, especially in the late 1800's/early1900's.
If your local library has digital access to historical local newspapers, you'll likely be able to determine why a half block of buildings disappeared from one year's maps to to the next version.
My hometown had maps in the years: 1897, 1900, 1907, 1913, 1920.
I stumble on this during COVID researching my hometown.
As Wikipedia states, "the maps were created to allow fire insurance companies to assess their total liability in urbanized areas of the United States."
Imagine a hand drawn "Google Map" of the downtown area showing business type, building construction, etc.
It's interesting to compare maps over time as the downtown changes, usually because of fire, especially in the late 1800's/early1900's.
If your local library has digital access to historical local newspapers, you'll likely be able to determine why a half block of buildings disappeared from one year's maps to to the next version.
My hometown had maps in the years: 1897, 1900, 1907, 1913, 1920.
