Maps - Sanborn Maps Instructions

If you live in Cuyahoga County and have a Cuyahoga County Public Library card, you can search the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for free.

I suggest that first you try to find the street name that you are interested in in either a city directory map or on a current map so you know

what area you are looking for, noting the surrounding streets.

The Sanborn Maps were originally created for judging fire insurance liability in urbanized areas in the United States. There is detailed information for approximately 12,000 towns and cities in the United States from 1867-2007. The maps were created in volumes, bound, and then updated until the next volume was produced. Large cities have multiple volumes. What can you see on one of these maps? There are "specials" on some maps, showing the names of churches, schools, and businesses. The maps include outlines of each building and outbuilding, the location of windows and doors, street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, natural features such as rivers and canals, as well as railroads, building uses, and the house and block number. Also shown is the composition of the building materials used for the building, such as the framing, flooring and roofing materials. Genealogists can use the maps to locate the residences and workplaces of their ancestors.

To search the Sanborn maps, go to www.cuyahogalibrary.org

Hover over the word "Research"

Choose "Electronic Resources by Subject"

Scroll down and choose "Genealogy"

Click on "Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps"

It will ask for your ZIP Code

Click on Search and choose "Simple"

Under the heading of "Scope," choose "History & Archives"

Type in a street name and click on "GO". I chose Clarence Ct. for this example.

When the screen refreshes, go back to "Scope" and then choose "Sanborn Historic Maps" and hit "GO" again.

Cities with the street name Clarence Ct. will appear, and you want to choose any that say Cleveland, or any city that you are interested in.

When you click on one you'll see a description showing the street names that appear on that map.

By reading that description, you'll know if you are in the correct neighborhood.

When you find a map that appears to be the correct street, you can zoom in and look for the address where your ancestor lived and see exactly what the building at that address looked like in that particular year.

Note that there are many maps for different years and I suggest you look at them all. You can also note the "specials" that appear on the map, such as churches, schools, rivers, canals, or railroads.