Do you live in a city in Ohio? Are you curious about its history? Have you ever wondered what was located in a city neighborhood before the box stores and skyscrapers were built? If so, then you may be interested in this week's featured database. The Sanborn Insurance Maps (aka Sanborn Historic Maps)are an Ohio Web Library resource that all Ohio Residents have access to. 

The Sanborn Insurance Maps contain over 40,000 maps detailing Ohio's cities from 1882 until 1962. The Sanborn maps were used by fire insurance companies to assess their liability in urban settings. Sanborn maps are highly detailed and are a great resource for tracking changes in American cities. Sanborn maps contain a wealth of information on city neighborhoods and including information on community businesses, churches, schools and more. Highly detailed maps list street names, buildings and outbuildings and even include window and door locations for the buildings! 

Be sure to check out the Sanborn Insurance Maps if local history is of any interest to you. You can also learn more about the Sanborn Insurance Maps and see some full-color reproductions at the Library of Congress website and read about their history in this Wikipedia article

You can access the Ohio Sanborn Maps through the Br. Edmond Drouin Library website by visiting our A-Z Database list