Using Fire Insurance Maps for Family History

Maps are an incredibly important part of the genealogist’s toolbox. They help us visualize where and how our ancestors lived, as well as who their neighbors were, which businesses were nearby, what sort of access they had to schools, churches, transportation, and much more.

One specific type of map that is useful for family historians with ancestors who lived in urban areas is the fire insurance map.

What are Fire Insurance Maps?

Fire insurance maps are an incredible source of detailed historical information about cities, towns, and urban areas. They were originally produced to provide insurance underwriters with a catalog of information used to assess the risk of insuring a particular property.

For each property, a colorful key was used to show a property’s address and lot lines, what it was used for (i.e., dwelling, hotel, church, business, etc.), what the building was constructed from and whether or not it was “fire-resistive,” its height and number of stories, the thickness of walls, special features such as doors, windows, chimneys, garages, stables, and elevators, as well as access to water from pipes, hydrants, cisterns, and more.

Several companies produced fire insurance maps, including the Dakin Publishing Co., G. M. Hopkins & Co., and the G. W. Baist Company. But by far the most prolific and well-known of these companies was the Sanborn Map Company. Founded in 1866 by Daniel Alfred Sanborn, the Sanborn Map Company surveyed and mapped 50 towns across the United States in its first year alone, and by 1873, just 7 years later, it had surveyed more than 600.¹“Sanborn Map Company Inc.” Encyclopedia.com. 28 April 2020. https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/sanborn-map-company-inc.

The Sanborn map collection consists of a uniform series of large-scale maps, dating from 1867 to the present. After 158 years, the Sanborn Map Company – now simply called “Sanborn” – is still in business today. Their archives contain over 1.2 million Sanborn maps containing the history of approximately 12,000 American cities and towns.

How to Use Fire Insurance Maps for Family History Research

Fire insurance maps are not only used by insurance underwriters. Over the years, others also began to find them useful: historians, geographers, urban planners, infectious disease specialists, and even genealogists.

We can learn so much about the area where our ancestors lived and worked by using fire insurance maps. Here’s how to get started using them in your family history research.

1. Find out where your ancestor lived. Look for street addresses in the documents you’ve accumulated for your ancestors, such as city directories, passport applications, newspaper social columns, land records and deeds, WWI and WWI draft registrations, Social Security applications, and U.S. census records from 1880 going forward. Even death certificates often record the “usual residence” of the deceased.
2. Look for fire insurance maps for that area. The Library of Congress has the majority of fire insurance maps, but many other libraries, universities, and historical societies also have copies. See the section below for tips on where to look for maps.
3. Locate the map sheet for your ancestor’s address. Start by looking for the Index page, which is typically located at the back of the book.²The digital location may vary, depending on how the images were uploaded to the website where they are housed. Some websites add the Index and Key pages to the front of the deck rather than the back. Find your ancestor’s street name to get the corresponding map page number. If you already know where your ancestor’s residence was located, you may be able to skip the Index and go straight to the Key page to get the map page number. Return to the image deck to find the exact map page with your ancestor’s street on it.
4. Find the desired dwelling or building. Be sure to take a look at the Key to find out what sort of building it was, how it was constructed, what sort of fire safety measures it had, etc.
5. Explore the neighborhood. What buildings are nearby? Is there a church? A school? How far away was your ancestor’s place of employment? Make a note of any buildings or features that you should investigate to help your research.
6. Meet the neighbors. If you used a census record or city directory to find your ancestor’s address, you may also be able to find out who owned or lived in the dwellings nearby. This is your ancestor’s FAN Club (Friends, Associates, Neighbors), so you’ll want to find out who they were and how they may have interacted with your ancestor.
7. Compare with future maps to see how the area evolved. Time and progress will have brought changes to your ancestor’s town. Follow their residence in additional fire insurance maps, if available. Take a look at Google Maps to see if your ancestor’s residence is still standing. Compare what you see to photos of your ancestor’s residence.
8. Download, save, and/or print a copy of the map for future use. Don’t forget to record where you found the maps online so you can return to the site later if needed.

Where to Find Fire Insurance Maps

Fire insurance maps can be challenging to find. Below are the best places to start your search.

ProQuest

ProQuest offers a HUGE collection of digital Sanborn Maps for the years 1867–1970.

Unfortunately, ProQuest is NOT free to use; however, many libraries offer access to ProQuest, either from their local (in-house) computers or via remote access from outside the library. For example, I’m able to access California Sanborn Maps on ProQuest remotely by logging in through the Los Angeles Public Library and entering my library card information. Be sure to check with your local or regional library to see if they offer ProQuest access.

It is important to note that ProQuest’s Sanborn Maps are all in black and white. They were digitized from microfilmed images made in the early 1990s by the former Chadwyck-Healey Company, which was purchased by ProQuest c. 2001. But even without color, these maps still provide a great deal of detailed information about an ancestor’s life. Don’t pass them by just because they’re in black and white!

Also, ProQuest’s collection is so large that you’re likely to find maps for locations that you won’t find anywhere else.

The Library of Congress

The next place to look is the Library of Congress, as they have the largest collection, by far.

According to their website, the Library of Congress currently has more than “25,000 sheets from over 3,000 city sets online in the following states: AK, AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, GA, ID, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NV, OH, OK, PA, SD, TX, VA, VT, WA, WY and Canada, Mexico, Cuba sugar warehouses, and U.S. whiskey warehouses.”³This description hasn’t been updated in quite a while, so the collection may be larger than is stated. The maps are arranged by state, then the city, and the release date.

Navigating the LOC collection of Sanborn Maps can be tricky. You can go right to the collection or use The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Online Checklist for a list of what is available. The latter is slightly less confusing. If all else fails, a good, old Google search may get you to the maps you need.

David Rumsey Maps

The David Rumsey Map Collection includes over 600 fire insurance maps for a variety of locations in the United States and England.

From the home page, search for the term “fire insurance” or click this link to go directly to the fire insurance maps.

Historic Map Works

Historic Map Works also has a decent collection of fire insurance maps. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to navigate them.

From the search page, try searching for the term “Sanborn,” and then sort alphabetically to find your desired location. Alternatively, try doing a location search, and then scroll through the results for Sanborn Maps.

Libraries, Universities, and Other Organizations

Many libraries and universities host their own digital collections of fire insurance maps. Some of those can be accessed with a ProQuest subscription, while others are only available to patrons with a library card. Those collections are not listed here.

This list includes fire insurance map collections that are freely available to the public. The links are sorted by state.

Alabama

• A collection of 3,121 maps produced by the Alabama Inspection and Rating Bureau (AIRB) and the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company – The University of Alabama
• Various AIRB maps for the years 1930–1969 – The Alabama Department of Archives and History

Arizona

• Index of Arizona Sanborn Maps – Arizona State University
• Sanborn Maps for Tucson, 1883, 1886, 1901, and 1909 – The Tucson Fire Foundation

California

• Interactive Index to California Cities – Stanford University Libraries
• General Index to Sanborn Maps Los Angeles California, 1964 – The Los Angeles Public Library
• Sanborn Maps for San Francisco 1905, and G. W. Baist maps for Los Angeles, California, 1921 – David Rumsey Map Collection
• Sanborn Map for the Golden Gate International Exposition, 1940 – David Rumsey Map Collection
• Sanborn Maps for Mission Beach, California – Stanford University Libraries
• Black and white images of Sanborn Maps for San Francisco, 1899/1900 – San Francisco Genealogy

Colorado

• Index of Sanborn Maps of 79 principal cities in 52 counties, 1883–1922 – University of Colorado Boulder
• Same collection, unindexed maps – University of Colorado Boulder

Connecticut

• Connecticut Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps – Yale University Library
• New Haven Sanborn Index Maps for Google Earth – Yale University Library⁴These maps are available as KML (Keyhole Markup Language) files.
• Black and white images of Sanborn Maps for the Mystic area, 1884–1939 – The Mystic Seaport Museum

Delaware

• Sanborn Maps for New Castle, 1885 – The New Castle, Delaware, Community History and Archaeology Program

District of Columbia

• G. M. Hopkins Real Estate Plat Books for the D.C. area, 1874–1896 – Dig DC 
• G. W. Baist Real Estate Atlases for D.C., 1903-1919, Library of Congress

Florida

• Sanborn Maps of Florida, 1884-1923 – University of Florida Digital Collections

Georgia

• Sanborn Maps for various Georgia cities and towns, 1884-1922 – The Digital Library of Georgia

Hawai’i

• Dakin Fire Insurance Maps for Honolulu, 1891, 1899, and 1906 – The University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
• Sanborn Maps of Honolulu, 1914 – The University of Hawai’i at Mānoa

Illinois

• Sanborn Maps maps for various Illinois towns (no rural locations), pre-1923 – Illinois University Library
• Sanborn Key Maps & Indices for the Chicago area, 1894–1901 – University of Illinois, Chicago
• Sanborn Maps for Aurora, pre-1923 – Illinois Digital Archives

Indiana

• Sanborn Maps in PDF format, pre–1923 – Indiana University, Bloomington
• Sanborn Maps and Baist Real Estate Atlases for Indianapolis, 1887–1941 – Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis
• Sanborn Maps for Muncie, 1883-1911 – Ball State University
• G. W. Baist Real Estate Atlases for Indianapolis and vicinity, 1908 & 1916 – Library of Congress

Kansas

• Sanborn Maps from 1883–1922 – University of Kansas Libraries

Kentucky

• Guide to Kentucky Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps – University of Kentucky Libraries
• Sanborn Maps for Frankfort, Farmdale, and Woodford County, Kentucky, 1907 – David Rumsey Map Collection
• Sanborn Maps for Kentucky, 1886-1907 – ExploreUK

Louisiana

• Volumes 1 & 2 of the New Orleans Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlas, 1876, the earliest and only known copies of forty fire insurance maps for this locality and era – Tulane University Digital Library

Maine

• Sanborn Maps for various Maine communities through 1927 – University of Maine
• Sanborn Maps for Hallowell, Maine, 1890 – David Rumsey Map Collection

Minnesota

• Sanborn Maps keys, covers, and indices only for Saint Paul, 1903 – Historic Saint Paul

Missouri

• Sanborn Maps for Missouri cities, 1880 -1922 – University of Missouri Digital Library
• Sanborn Maps of Kansas City, 1895–1957 – Kansas City Library Missouri Valley Special Collections
• Selected Sanborn Maps, 1870–1898, and the 1904 World’s Fair – Washington University St. Louis’s Unreal City

New Hampshire

• Sanborn Maps for various New Hampshire towns, 1883–1940 – Dartmouth College Library

New Jersey

• Sanborn Maps for hundreds of New Jersey communities, 1884–1950 – Princeton University Library
• Sanborn Maps for Trenton, 1874-1922 – Trenton Free Public Library
• Sanborn Maps for Newark, 1931, vol. 4 only – Digital Archive of Newark Architecture

New York

• Sanborn Maps for various locations, 1885–1918 – New York Public Library Digital Collections: INDEX – BROWSE

North Carolina

• All of the North Carolina Collection’s Sanborn maps produced through 1922 – North Carolina Maps

North Dakota

• Sanborn Maps for various North Dakota communities, 1884–1960 (includes revisions) – University of North Dakota Scholarly Commons

Ohio

• Sanborn Maps for Cincinnati and 8 Ohio counties, pre–1923 – Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
• Sanborn Maps of Cleveland, 1887–1918 – Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

Pennsylvania

• Sanborn Maps for various cities and towns, 1884–1923 – Penn State University Libraries
• Index to Philadelphia PA Sanborn Maps Volumes – Penn State University Libraries
• G. M. Hopkins Company real estate maps for Pittsburgh, 1872–1940 – Historic Pittsburgh
• Sanborn’s Surveys of the Whiskey Warehouses, Philadelphia, 1894–1915 – Free Library of Philadelphia

South Carolina

• Sanborn Maps for various South Carolina counties, 1884–1933 – University of South Carolina Digital Collections

Tennessee

• Sanborn Maps for Knoxville, 1884, 1890, 1903, and 1917 – University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• Sanborn Maps for Memphis and Nashville, 1911 & 1923, and South Pittsburg, 1944 – Tennessee Virtual Archive

Texas

• Sanborn Maps for various Texas locations, 1877–1922 – The University of Texas at Austin Libraries, Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection

Utah

• Sanborn Maps for various Utah cities, 1884–1955 – The University of Utah Digital Library
• Reconstructing the Past through Utah Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1884–1950  – The University of Utah Libraries⁵This collection contains georeferenced .kmz files which can be viewed in Google Earth or another GIS software system.

Vermont

• Sanborn Maps for Chittenden and Franklin Counties, 1869 to 1922 – The University of Vermont Libraries
• Sanborn Maps for the City of Rutland, 1879 – City of Rutland

Virginia

• Sanborn maps for Cape Charles, 1898–1921 – The Town of Cape Charles

Washington

• Sanborn Maps for Everett, 1914, and revised 1955 – Everett Public Library

Wisconsin

• Sanborn Maps for 325 Wisconsin communities, 1883–1930 –  The Wisconsin Historical Society
• Sanborn Maps of Kenosha, 1918 – The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
• Sanborn Maps of Milwaukee, 1894 and 1910 – The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
• Interactive Sanborn Maps of Milwaukee, 1910 – The American Geographical Society Library

Canada

• Charles E. Goad Maps of Toronto, 1890, 1899, and 1904 – Toronto Public Library
• Sanborn Maps of Victoria, BC, 1885 – The Library of Congress

Mexico

• Sanborn Maps for the City of Mexico, 1905, Ciudad Juarez, 1893–1905, Ciudad Porfirio Diaz (Piedras Negras) 1905, and Mexicali, 1921 – The University of Texas at Austin Libraries, Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection

Resources

• Introduction to the Sanborn Maps Collection (Library of Congress)
• About the Sanborn Maps Collection (Library of Congress)
• Sanborn Keys, Legends, and Symbols (Library of Congress)
• Union List of Sanborn & Other Fire Insurance Maps (University of California, Berkeley) – Compiled by Philip Hoehn, this list catalogs the coverage areas, dates, and owning institutions of Sanborn maps throughout North America.
• The Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Guide (1942) – Diagrams and descriptions of the construction of the buildings, as well as colors and symbols.
• FIMo – How to Interpret Sanborn Map (Historical Information Gatherers) – compiled from the 1940 and 1953 editions
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps: History, Use, Availability – Lynne Mueller, Mississippi State University
• Guide to Map Abbreviations (The Sanborn Map Collection at the California State University, Northridge)

Wrap Up

Fire insurance maps are an important part of the family historian’s toolbox, especially for those who are researching in urban areas. These maps help us to visualize where and how our ancestors lived, what resources were available in the nearby community, and so much more.

Interested in more maps for your family history research? Take a look at this post: 10 Awesome Websites With Maps for Genealogy Research.

Have you used fire insurance maps in your family history research? What have you learned? Share your finds in the comments!

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Footnotes

• 1
  “Sanborn Map Company Inc.” Encyclopedia.com. 28 April 2020. https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/sanborn-map-company-inc.
• 2
  The digital location may vary, depending on how the images were uploaded to the website where they are housed. Some websites add the Index and Key pages to the front of the deck rather than the back.
• 3
  This description hasn’t been updated in quite a while, so the collection may be larger than is stated.
• 4
  These maps are available as KML (Keyhole Markup Language) files.
• 5
  This collection contains georeferenced .kmz files which can be viewed in Google Earth or another GIS software system.

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