1. Hello and welcome. I’m so glad you could join me today.

2. What is the Sanborn Map Collection?
The Sanborn map collection consists of a uniform series of large-scale maps, dating from to the 1962 and depicting the commercial, industrial, and residential sections of urbanized areas across Ohio
The maps were designed to assist fire insurance agents in determining the degree of hazard associated with a particular property and therefore show the size, shape, and construction of dwellings, commercial buildings, and factories as well as fire walls, locations of windows and doors, sprinkler systems, and types of roofs. The maps also indicate widths and names of streets, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers.
Although the original maps are in color, and are color-coded, OPLIN’s Sanborn Map collection was digitized from microfilm and is in black and white. OPLIN is currently working to replace these images with color scans.

3. How can you access this collection?
Note: if you have a live internet connection, please feel free to toggle to that

4. 1 2
1. Go to Ohio Web Library 2. Click on the Genealogy drop-down 3. Click on Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps 3

5. What can you use the collection for?
Locating the homes and workplaces of ancestors.
Seeing how a community has changed over time.
Understand the history of neighborhood or building.

6. Say you found an ancestor in the census who lived on 113 S
Say you found an ancestor in the census who lived on 113 S. Scioto St in Columbus Ohio in the 1900 Census.
Let’s find their house .

7. Type “Columbus”

8. Next, select the closest year.
Note that the 1901 volume is broken in to 3 parts and you may have to search each part

9. Now, let’s search by street

10. As you type in the name of the street, suggestions will appear.
The numbers following the street name are the ranges of street numbers that appear on specific maps. Since we’re looking for 113 Scioto, we’ll selected Scioto, S [85-218]

11. Click here to view the map.
Note that the names of streets will change over time. If you don’t find the street you’re looking for right away, see if you can find a cross-street.

12. Here’s a bird’s eye view of the map.
We can see Scioto street in the center of the map.

13. By zooming in on a street, we can see the building numbers.
Let’s zoom in a little more. Note how close our ancestor lived to the prison. Did they work there?

14. Zooming in, we can see number 113 clearly marked on the map
Zooming in, we can see number 113 clearly marked on the map. But what do those numbers and symbols mean?

15. Understanding the Map
To find out what the symbols on the map mean, we must turn to the key. Each Sanborn Map was originally bound in a book and the key is always on the first or second page of that book. In another window, open the Sandborn map and go to the first page of the volume. Remember, these maps were deisgned for fire insurance assessment, so many of the features are related to fire and fire protection.

16. 1) Using the Key, we can tell that 113 was a “D” or dwelling
1) Using the Key, we can tell that 113 was a “D” or dwelling. 2)There was a 18 inch firewall on one side 3) There was an opening on the 3rd floor 4) And a wooden frame on the back

17. Following the same steps, you can find other historic buildings in your community. For example, how has the community changed around this historic church in West Union, Ohio?

18. “Specials” means a unique or interesting structure.
Instead of searching for a street, you can also search for “specials.” Specials can be a church, city building, business or factory.

19. Here’s the community in 1904
Here’s the community in Play the game with the audience: what’s different?
1904

20. Here’s the community in 1904.
1930

21. Play the game with the audience: what’s different? What’s the same?
Today
Image from Google maps

22. Questions?