Sanborn Maps
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Sanborn maps are detailed maps of U.S. cities and towns in the 19th and 20th centuries. Originally published by The Sanborn Map Company (Sanborn), the maps were created to allow
fire insurance Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, or bo ...
companies to assess their total liability in urbanized areas of the United States. Since they contain detailed information about properties and individual buildings in approximately 12,000 U.S. cities and towns, Sanborn maps are valuable for documenting changes in the
built environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...
of American cities over many decades. Sanborn held a monopoly over fire insurance maps for the majority of the 20th century, but the business declined as US insurance companies stopped using maps for underwriting in the 1960s. The last Sanborn fire maps were published on
microfilm Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either photographic film, films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the origin ...
in 1977, but old Sanborn maps remain useful for historical research into urban geography. The license for the maps was acquired by land data company Environmental Data Resources (EDR), and EDR was acquired in 2019 by real estate services company LightBox.


Description

The Sanborn maps themselves are large-scale
lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
ed street plans at a scale of 50 feet to one inch (1:600) on sheets of paper. The maps were published in volumes, bound and then updated until the subsequent volume was produced. Larger cities would be covered by multiple volumes of maps. Between editions of published volumes, map updates were sent out as correction slips. Sanborn employees, called "pasters" or "correctors", would visit subscribers' offices to paste the slips on top of the old maps. The map volumes contain an enormous amount of information. They are organized as follows: a decorative title page; an index of streets and addresses; a ‘specials’ index with the names of churches, schools, businesses etc.; and a master index indicating the entirety of the mapped area and the sheet numbers for each large-scale map (usually depicting four to six blocks); and general information such as population, economy and prevailing wind direction. The maps include outlines of each building and outbuilding; the location of windows and doors; street names; street and sidewalk widths; property boundaries; fire walls; natural features (
river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
s,
canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
s, etc.); railroad corridors; building use (sometimes even particular room uses); house and block number; as well as the composition of
building material Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rock (geology), rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materia ...
s including the framing, flooring, and roofing materials; the strength of the local fire department; indications of sprinkler systems; locations of
fire hydrant A fire hydrant, waterplug, or firecock (archaic) is a connection point by which firefighters can tap into a water supply. It is a component of active fire protection. Underground fire hydrants have been used in Europe and Asia since at least ...
s; location of water and gas mains; and even the names of most public buildings, churches and businesses. Unique information includes the location of the homes of prominent individuals, brothels, and more ephemeral buildings including outhouses and stables.


Insurance underwriting

At the outset of the
fire insurance Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, or bo ...
industry,
underwriters Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabilit ...
visited every property that was under consideration for coverage. As insurance companies increased their service areas, it was no longer practical to send people to every insurable property to assess the risk. The Sanborn maps allowed them to underwrite properties from the office, pooling the cost with other insurance companies that also subscribed to the maps. It was said that at one time, insurance companies and their agents “relied upon them with almost blind faith”. The maps were utilized by insurance companies to determine the potential risk of a particular building, taking into account all of the information included on the map: building material, proximity to other buildings and
fire department A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...
s, the location of gas lines, etc. The decision as to how much, if any, insurance would be offered to a customer was often determined solely through the use of a Sanborn map. The maps also allowed insurance companies to visualize their exposure in their coverage areas; when an agent sold a policy, he could color in the corresponding building on the map.


History

In the late 18th century, insurance companies in London began to create detailed maps to give underwriters the information they needed to assess fire risk. The practice was adopted by American insurance companies in the mid-19th century. Demand for fire insurance mapping grew rapidly after the end of the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. Factors such as the
Homestead Act The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of th ...
,
railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
construction, the
Second Industrial Revolution The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a phase of rapid scientific discovery, standardization, mass production and industrialization from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. The Firs ...
and massive
immigration to the United States Immigration has been a major source of population growth and Culture of the United States, cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. In absolute numbers, the United States has a larger immigrant population than a ...
all fostered huge population growths, urbanization, and heightened demand for mapping.
Daniel Alfred Sanborn Daniel Alfred Sanborn (April 5, 1827 in Somerville, MassachusettsApril 11, 1883 in Brooklyn, New York) was a surveyor who founded the Sanborn Map Company, a well-known provider of fire insurance maps. Before starting his company he produced insura ...
, a civil engineer and surveyor, began working on fire insurance maps in 1866. That year, he was contracted by the
Aetna Insurance Company Aetna Inc. () is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, ...
to prepare maps of areas in
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
. About the same time, he developed similar maps of
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, published as ''Insurance Map of Boston,'' Volume 1, 1867. Seeing a lucrative market for this type of map, he established the D. A. Sanborn National Insurance Diagram Bureau in New York City to publish the Boston atlas and develop and sell maps of additional areas. Within several decades, the company became the largest and most successful American map company. This growth came about through savvy management and the buyout of competing firms. In 1889 Sanborn acquired Perris and Browne, an older firm, and can by virtue of this expansion date its origins to 1852. The firm name established by Sanborn in 1867 was changed in 1876 when the firm was incorporated under the name Sanborn Map and Publishing Company, which then became the Sanborn-Perris Map Company, Ltd. until 1902, when the name was shortened to the Sanborn Map Company. In 1916, Sanborn purchased its last major competitor, the E. Hexamer & Sons of Philadelphia, and became a
monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
. Company headquarters moved to 629 Fifth Avenue in northern
Pelham, New York Pelham is a suburban town in Westchester County, approximately 10 miles northeast of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 13,078, an increase from the 2010 census. Historically, Pelham was composed of five villages ...
, but there were also regional offices in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, and
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
. The Sanborn Company sent out legions of surveyors to map building footprints in all major urbanized areas, along with building details related to fire risk. At its peak in the 1920s, the company employed about 700 people, including about 300 field surveyors and 400 cartographers, printers, managers, salesmen, and support staff. Areas under intensive development were surveyed every six months. Sanborn's monopoly was resented by some insurance companies for its high cost. The Underwriter's Association of the Pacific complained that an "Eastern monopoly" was giving service that was "very slow, expensive, and generally unsatisfactory." In the 1910s, the National Board of Fire Underwriters investigated the possibility of creating its own maps. However, many insurance companies opposed the proposal, citing the "very large expenditure" required and their satisfaction with Sanborn's "commendably satisfactory" service. Instead, the NBFU Map Committee took an active role in Sanborn's operations. In 1922, Sanborn agreed to add a member of the Map Committee to its
Board of Directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
, and a second seat was added by 1927. However, the onset of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
greatly curtailed construction activity in the United States. By 1936, Sanborn had reduced its publishing output from 60 to 20 volumes per year, a pace that would take over 50 years to update the entire map collection.


Decline of insurance business

In the 1950s, insurance companies began to use an alternative form of
underwriting Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabilit ...
known as ''line carding''. Line carding had been used for decades to underwrite properties that were not covered by fire maps. Each insured property was listed on a single card, and no map was kept. Corporate mergers also reduced the need for Sanborn Maps, since the consolidated company only needed to buy one set of maps. As insurance companies increased in size, they could withstand larger disasters and no longer needed to use insurance maps to reduce their concentration of risk. Companies also cited "modern building construction, better building fire codes, and improved fire protection methods for the decline in importance of fire insurance maps." From the late 1930s to the late 1950s, Sanborn's annual profit fell from $500,000 to just $100,000. About thirty insurance companies accounted for most of the company's sales. However, its monopoly over insurance mapping had allowed it to earn substantial profits over the decades. These profits were invested in a portfolio of stocks and bonds. By 1958, the stock was selling for $45 a share, but the investments were worth $65 a share. This attracted the attention of a young
Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net w ...
, who pressured the company to distribute the investment portfolio to shareholders. Buffett eventually purchased 23% of the company's outstanding shares as an
activist investor An activist shareholder is a shareholder who uses an Equity (finance), equity stake in a corporation to put pressure on its management. A fairly small stake (less than 10% of outstanding shares) may be enough to launch a successful campaign. In com ...
, representing 35% of his investment partnership's total assets under management. Allied with other dissatisfied shareholders, Buffett could count on the votes of at least 44% of the shares in a
proxy fight A proxy fight, proxy contest or proxy battle (sometimes even called a proxy war) is an unfriendly contest for the control over an organization. The event usually occurs when a corporation's stockholders develop opposition to some aspect of the corp ...
. The Board agreed to buy back shares from any shareholder at fair value, paying with a portion of its investment portfolio. 72% of the outstanding shares were turned in. In just two years, Buffett had secured a 50% return on his investment. With the decline of its insurance business, Sanborn could no longer afford to maintain its army of surveyors. However, the company continued to sell its maps and perform some updates. Government sales began to play a larger role, especially the
Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
and municipal planning agencies. Sanborn printed its last catalog in 1950, created its last new map in 1961, and issued its last update in 1977. In 1996, the license for the maps was acquired by land data company Environmental Data Resources (EDR). In 2019, EDR was acquired by real estate services company LightBox. Over time, Sanborn diversified into other mapping activities, and as of 2020 is a geospatial specialist and holder of electronic GIS assets and systems, though the fire insurance business continues as a niche department. Corporate headquarters are in Colorado.


Modern uses of fire insurance maps

Sanborn maps are found primarily in the archives and special collections of
town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
s and public and university libraries, and remain a resource for people in many different fields. The maps facilitate historical research through the study of urban growth and decline patterns, and for research into the evolution of specific buildings, sites and districts. Genealogists use the maps to locate the residences and workplaces of ancestors. Planners use the maps to study historic urban planning designs.
Historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...
ists use the maps to understand the significance and historical evolution of buildings, including their historic uses and building materials in conservation and rehabilitation efforts.
Demographer Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and Population dynamics, dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups ...
s and urban geographers use them to study patterns of growth and migration of populations. Historic Sanborn maps are available through public or university libraries, including the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
, and from the copyright owners, Environmental Data Resources (EDR), a division of LightBox.


See also

* Walter Ristow


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Sanborn Map Company


Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
. * * * * {{cite web , title=Historical Atlases Rescued from the Trash Could be a Boon to Historians , url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/historical-atlas-maps-american-west/, accessdate=6 March 2017


Digital map collections


ProQuest Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867–1970
— pay site (free from some public and academic libraries)
Sanborn Maps, Environmental Data Resources
— pay site
Sanborn Maps from over 15 states
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Sanborn Maps of Alabama, 1884–1950
University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

Sanborn Maps of San Francisco, California, 1900
— SF Genealogy
Sanborn Maps of San Francisco, California, 1905
David Rumsey David Rumsey (born 1944) is an American map collector and the founder of the David Rumsey Map Collection. He is also the president of Cartography Associates. Rumsey has a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts from Yale University and was ...

Sanborn Maps of San Jose, California
San Jose Public Library The San José Public Library ( es, Biblioteca Pública de San José) is the public library system of San Jose, California, made up of 23 branch libraries spread across the city. Organization Its central library, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Librar ...
– Digital Sanborn Fire Maps of San Jose available to library card holders
Sanborn Maps of Colorado, 1883–1922
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...
Digital Library
Sanborn Maps of Florida, 1860–1923
University of Florida Library
Sanborn Maps of Georgia, 1884–1922
— Digital Library of Georgia
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...
, Map Library
Sanborn Maps of Indianapolis, Indiana, 1887–1941
IUPUI University Library IUPUI University Library is the university library of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. IUPUI is an urban campus of Indiana University and Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Indiana University is the ...

Sanborn Maps of Muncie, Indiana, 1883–1911
Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...
Library
Sanborn Maps of Kansas, 1883–1922
University of Kansas Libraries
Sanborn Maps of Kentucky, 1884–1922
— Kentuckiana Digital Library

— David Rumsey

— David Rumsey
Sanborn Maps of Maine
University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...
Fogler Library, Orono
Sanborn Maps of Missouri, 1883–1951
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

Sanborn Maps of St. Louis, Missouri, 1870–1904
Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

Sanborn Maps of Nevada, 1879–1923
University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

Sanborn Maps of New Jersey, 1884–1950
Princeton University Library Princeton University Library is the main library system of Princeton University. With holdings of more than 7 million books, 6 million microforms, and 48,000 linear feet of manuscripts, it is among the largest libraries in the world by number of ...

Sanborn Maps of New Hampshire, 1880s–1940s
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
Library
Insurance Maps of New York
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

Sanborn Maps of North Carolina, 1884–1922
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

Sanborn Maps of Cincinnati, Ohio
— The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
Sanborn Maps of Toledo, Ohio, 1902
— Toledo's Attic

Pennsylvania State University Libraries The Penn State University Libraries consists of 36 libraries at 22 locations in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The two main buildings on Penn State's University Park campus are the Pattee and Paterno libraries. History The library's first p ...

Sanborn Maps of Texas, 1877–1922
— University of Texas Libraries

University of South Carolina Library
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
a
University of Utah Digital LibraryMarriott Library Special CollectionsSanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Wisconsin Communities
Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of N ...

Sanborn Maps of Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1918
UW Milwaukee, AGS Library
Sanborn Maps of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1894 and 1910
— UW Milwaukee, AGS Library Urban planning in the United States Map companies of the United States