Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

This source consists of a uniform series of large scale maps dating from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s. These atlases provide detailed, accurate information about the physical structure of cities and towns, including building density, patterns of land use, degrees of formal and informal zoning, etc. They can be used in conjunction with the U.S. Federal Manuscript Census to reconstruct the built environment in which urban residents lived. This is a particularly valuable source for urban and social history, sociology, public health, and women's studies. Published by the Sanborn Map company, these maps were originally prepared for the exclusive use of fire insurance companies and underwriters to assist fire insurance agents in determining the degree of hazard associated with a particular property. They graphically display the size, shape, and construction of dwellings, commercial buildings, and factories as well as fire walls, location of windows and doors, sprinklers, and types of roofs. They also indicate road widths, street names, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers as well as locations of water mains (including their dimensions), and of fire alarm boxes and hydrants. Our collection of the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps on microfilm primarily covers states of the U.S. West. To see if the library has the particular city that you need, search the Library Catalog and select keywords. Type Sanborn and the name of the city and state desired. It is best to include the state since there are a few cities in various states that have the same name -- Las Vegas, Nevada and Las Vegas, New Mexico.