TIP OF THE WEEK –  SANBORN FIRE INSURANCE MAPS

Sanborn Maps were originally created in the 1860’s for assessing fire insurance liability in urbanized areas.  The maps include detailed information about buildings in approximately 12,000 US towns and cities. They are a very useful resource for historical research, genealogical research, and they are the most frequently consulted maps in public libraries.

The good news is The Library of Congress has already placed 25,000 of these maps online and they are in the process of adding more maps monthly. The goal is to have all the maps (approximately 500,000) available online by 2020.

While still hit and miss, maybe the map you need is already online. Check it out at:
https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-17-074/?loclr=fbloc-new