Sanborn Map Company

The Sanborn Map Company was founded in 1867 with headquarters in New York City. Its purpose was to produce maps that would show "at a glance the character of the fire insurance risks of all buildings" in a give community. Since these maps had a very specialized use, "there were usually fewer than twenty orders for a single map sheet". Consequently, even though Sanborn maps are printed works, their rarity is similar to that of manuscript maps. The Sanborn Map Company ceased making its insurance risk maps in the 1950's, but paste-over correction sheets are still available for many urban areas.

From the description of Detroit insurance maps. (State Archive of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 40662011

Formed in 1876 and was primarily concerned with producing maps for the fire insurance industry.

From the description of Sanborn Map Company, Inc. maps [microform], 1884-1957. (La Crosse Public Library). WorldCat record id: 47635277

The Sanborn Map Company began as the D.A. Sanborn National Insurance Diagram Bureau. D.A. Sanborn, a surveyor from Massachusetts, founded the company in 1867. The company was probably founded in New York City, and it incorporated under the name Sanborn Map and Publishing Company. Sanborn died in 1883. In 1899 the company became Sanborn Perris Map Company, Limited. By this time, most other insurance map publishers had either gone out of business or changed specializations, making Sanborn Perris the industry leader. In 1902, the firm again changed its name to Sanborn Map Company and has held this name to the present day.

From the description of Records, 1884-1969. (University of North Dakota). WorldCat record id: 49059812

Sanborn Map Company of New York produced specialized and detailed fire insurance maps for the use of fire insurance companies and underwriters. It was established by D.A. Sanborn, a surveyor, as the D.A. Sanborn National Insurance Diagram Bureau in 1867. The maps were drawn to show at a glance, by the use of symbol keys, the character of fire insurance risks of residential and commercial property by detailed street sections for cities and towns in the United States. Since the 1950s, the fire insurance maps are no longer widely used by the fire insurance industry, but Sanborn Map Company still produces reprints of unrevised maps and some updated maps.

From the description of Fire insurance maps of Jacksonville, Fla. and St. Petersburg, Fla., ca. 1923-1959. (Florida State Archive). WorldCat record id: 32413072

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Sanborn fire insurance maps were a valuable tool used by insurance companies to estimate the risk of fire in a given area. These maps are generally 50 feet to the inch in scale and show great detail in terms of the construction of buildings and the location of fire hydrants, fire departments stations, etc. Once a map was published, paste-on sheets were used to make corrections and update the maps as new construction occurred.

From the description of Sanborn fire insurance maps. (State Archive of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 40876678

The city of Norfolk was established in 1680. Incorporated as a borough in 1736, it was incorporated as a city in 1845. In 1906 it annexed the adjacent town of Berkeley.

The Sanborn Map Company was founded by D. A. Sanborn, a surveyor from Massachusetts, in 1866. The maps allowed fire insurance underwriters and policy holders to more accurately protect the risks of business even if a building was not able to be inspected in person and to prevent an insurance premium from being set too low or high. Aside from fire insurance companies, the Sanborn Maps are useful to people involved in government, business, engineering, health and sanitation, planning and zoning, public works, tax assessment, education, highway development, public libraries, architects, geographers, environmentalists, water works, banking, mortgages, and life insurance, utilities and many other professional industries. Sanborn Maps also serve as historical documents for cities and towns and are important to those involved in social history, local history, architectural history, genealogy, urban studies, and preservation. The detail provided by the Sanborn Maps about each city in terms of its physical make-up, as well as the infrastructure of each city or town, provides important insights into a locality for professionals of all sorts.

From the guide to the Norfolk (Va.) Sanborn Fire Insurance Company Maps, 1923-1958, (The Library of Virginia)