Guides: URBS 103: Industrial Metropolis Course Guide: Sanborn Maps

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

The Sanborn Map Company helped fire insurance companies set rates in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with these detailed maps of each built structure, its use, dimensions, height, building material, and other relevant features (fire alarms, water mains and hydrants, for example).

To find your Philadelphia location within the Sanborns, start with this Graphic Map of Volumes, which will identify the volume covering your location. Each Sanborn volume has its own front-matter Volume Key with a map identifying map pages covering groups of city blocks. The Volume Key will also provide a graphic explanation of map symbols,and it will often include an index of business establishments.

Fire Insurance Maps of Philadelphia, including parts of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties / Penn State University Libraries
This interactive index identifies and links to several digitized fire insurance atlas series held by Penn State University Libraries and the Free Library of Philadelphia:
1858-1864 : Hexamer and Locher; 1870s-1920s : Hexamer and Son; 1916-2007 : Sanborn (includes parts of Delaware, Montgomery Counties); 1885-1967 : Sanborn (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery Counties); 1894-1915 : Sanborn : Whiskey Warehouses.
NOTE : Maps that remain in copyright may not be available for viewing.
Digital Sanborn maps, 1867-1970
Black-and-white Sanborn Maps digitized from microfilm. Coverage is provided for the whole United States. Images downloadable as PDFs.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps - Penn State University Libraries
For Philadelphia 1916-1928 (or latest out-of-copyright year), digitized in full color. Use this Graphic Map to locate the volume number for your area of interest.
Sanborn Maps, Available Online / Library of Congress
Digitized Sanborn map sheets from the Library of Congress's comprehensive collection, 35,000+ images in full color.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, Philadelphia
Guide to our microfilm collections.
ProQuest Sanborn Maps Geo Edition
This database was deactivated in Summer 2020.
Digitized Sanborn fire insurance maps for selected major US cities, including Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, Richmond, and Seattle. Downloadable images available as GeoTIFF suitable for GIS applications.

Other Historic Maps

Philadelphia Geohistory Network
Scanned historic maps from the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries.
DOR Historic Streets Index
Changes to the names of certain streets, alleys, and courts were first effected by an ordinance dated September 1, 1858. A provision of this ordinance was an alphabetical index of former names, together with the location of the street and the new name given to it. By an ordinance of February 23, 1897 names of intermediate streets were indexed by old name, location and new name.
Genealogy of Philadelphia County Subdivisions
Maps of Philadelphia wards as they've changed.
Social Base Map of Philadelphia
Council of Social Agencies and the Philadelphia Board of Education, 1939.
Digitized atlas of Philadelphia city blocks showing building outlines for social-use sites.
LOC American Memory: Cities and Towns
Historic maps digitized at the Library of Congress.

Sanborn Maps

Map 38. "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania." 1916. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1916- 1922 - Pennsylvania.
Retrieved from http://collection1.libraries.psu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/maps1/id/16055/rec/1