Sanborn Maps

The Sanborn Map Company published maps of cities around the country, documenting buildings and their construction. Their original purpose was to provide information for fire insurance. They are a wealth of information on how cities grew and changed.

I found Sanborn Maps of our neighborhood on our public library website. You’ve got to love the public libraries! I was able to find three maps documenting the neighborhood starting in 1903, before the building was constructed, thru 1951.

Sanborn 1903-1916

The first map shows the building lot before the building was built. It shows that the little house attached to our building predates the construction of the phone building. To locate our building, find Wilmington Road, running left to right at the top of the page and Colorado Avenue running top to bottom toward the left side.

The next map shows the Southwestern Bell Telephone Riverside Exchange building at the corner of Wilmington and Colorado. It says it was built in 1915 (it was actually built in 1914) , fireproof construction of concrete floors and roof, brick and tile walls.

Sanborn 1924-1938

The last map labels the building as a Art Glass Manufacturer.

Sanborn 1938-1951