Central Iowa Genealogical Society
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
"What They Are and How to Use Them" was be the topic at the Central Iowa Genealogical Society meeting at 1:30 on Sunday, November 16, 2008, at the Fisher Community Center in Marshalltown. The presentation by Carolyn Niemantsverdriet Bauer will describe the history of the maps, where to find them, and how to use them in genealogical research.
Beginning in the mid-1800s, the Sanborn Map Company published maps and atlases of more than twelve-thousand United States towns and cities, issued in some seven-hundred-thousand separate sheets, and yet the name Sanborn is known to but a small number of American map users. This anomalous situation has persisted because Sanborn's specialized maps were prepared for the exclusive use of fire insurance companies and underwriters, but are today extensively used by genealogists and historians.
D. A. Sanborn, a young surveyor from Somerville, Massachusetts, was engaged in 1866 by the Aetna Insurance Company to prepare insurance maps for several cities in Tennessee. Before working for Aetna, Sanborn conducted surveys and compiled an atlas of the city of Boston titled "Insurance Map of Boston",, Volume 1, 1867. The title page reads "By D. A. Sanborn, C.E. ,117 Broadway, New York." Also on the title page are symbols and an index map. The atlas includes twenty-nine large plates showing sections of Boston at the scale of 50 feet to an inch. It is believed to include the earliest insurance maps published by Sanborn.
The success of the Boston atlas and the commission from Aetna must have impressed the young surveyor with the importance of detailed and specialized maps for the fire insurance industry. Following his assignment in Tennessee for Aetna, he established the D. A. Sanborn National Insurance Diagram Bureau in New York City in l867. From this modest beginning grew the specialized company that compiled and published maps for the fire insurance industry for more than a hundred years.
The Sanborn Maps Collection includes maps for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and are valuable historical tools for urban specialists, social historians, architects, geographers, genealogists, local historians, planners, environmentalists and anyone who wants to learn about the history, growth, and development of American cities, towns, and neighborhoods largely because they include information such as the outline of each building, the size, shape and construction materials, heights, and function of structures, location of windows and doors. The maps also give street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers. Seven or eight different editions represent some areas. Textual information on construction details (for example, steel beams or reinforced walls) is often given on the plans while shading indicates different building materials. Extensive information on building use is given, ranging from symbols for generic terms such as stable, garage, and warehouse to names of owners of factories and details on what was manufactured in them. In the case of large factories or commercial buildings, even individual rooms and the uses to which they were put are recorded on the maps. Other features shown include pipelines, railroads, wells, dumps, and heavy machinery.
"What They Are and How to Use Them" was will be the topic at the Central Iowa Genealogical Society meeting at 1:30 on Sunday, November 16, 2008, at the Fisher Community Center in Marshalltown. The presentation by Carolyn Niemantsverdriet Bauer will describe the history of the maps, where to find them, and how to use them in genealogical research.
New officers to be installed at the November meeting are Merrill Price, president, Judy Nanke, vice-president, Pauline Smith, secretary, and Brad Braga, treasurer.
The CIGS library is located at the Marshall County Historical Society, 202 E. Church St., Marshalltown. Individuals desiring to use the library materials may do so by calling one of the CIGS officers.
CIGS invites all who are interested in genealogy and family history to attend the meeting. Those with questions about the meeting or the society may call President Harold Gourley at 753-0000, Vice-President Carolyn Bauer at 752-0000, Treasurer Brad Braga at 753-0000, or Secretary Judy Nanke at 752-0000.
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