These maps are amazing! Definitely a great resource to search through and get a better grasp of the area your ancestors lived in.
https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps/about-this-collection/
Amy Johnson Crow writes, "If your ancestor lived "in town" in the late 1880s or early 1900s, there's a good chance there's a Sanborn map for it.
"The Sanborn Map Company was founded in 1867 and provided detailed maps to fire insurance companies. These maps outlined the buildings, gave the purpose of the building, and told what they were made of. There were also detailed notes about sources of water.
Sanborn maps give a unique view into our ancestors' neighborhoods. They weren't limited to just big cities like Chicago or Detroit. They included much smaller towns. If a town was big enough that an insurance company might want to do business there, there might be a Sanborn map for it."
