Business and Industrial History: Maps

Produced for over a century, more than 660,000 Sanborn maps chart the growth and development of more than 12,000 American towns and cities. Sanborn maps are large-scale plans of a city or town, drawn at a scale of 50 feet to an inch. They were created to assist fire insurance companies as they assessed the risk associated with insuring a particular property. The maps list street blocks and building numbers including numbers in use at the time the map was made and previous numbers. These maps are for non-commercial use only, and may not be downloaded, clipped, printed, resold, retained or used for commercial or business research purposes, including but not limited to environmental, property or other land use evaluations. Digital Sanborn Maps are reproduced and distributed under license from Environmental Data Resources, Inc. For information on how to obtain maps for commercial and business research purposes, go to www.edrnet.com/sanborn.