The Society of California Pioneers has a marvelous 1890 Sanborn map of Jackson, California, comprising three sheets bound together in a portfolio. This copy of the Jackson map was created for Joseph Fontenrose and provides a visual snapshot of Jackson in 1890. Check out all the great details! (fb)

Have you ever seen a fire insurance map? These highly detailed maps of urban areas showing individual buildings were designed specifically for the use of insurance underwriters to determine the fire risk of a particular structure. They include information such as the composition of a building; locations of doors, windows, boilers, and stairwells; the existence of fire walls or sprinkler systems; the building’s use (residential, store, factory, etc.), and so much more. Most of these maps were created by the Sanborn Map Company, who by the 1930s covered more than 13,000 cities and towns across the United States. Fire insurance maps are of great use to researchers today, as well as beautiful to look at (Sanborn maps were hand-colored, because there were usually fewer than twenty orders for a single map sheet). The Society of California Pioneers has a marvelous 1890 Sanborn map of Jackson, California, comprising three sheets bound together in a portfolio. (Map sheets for large cities were bound in volumes of about 100 sheets each; the early 1900s edition of the San Francisco maps required six atlases.) This copy of the Jackson map was created for Joseph Fontenrose. Joseph had lived in Amador County since the late 1850s and over the years held several local government positions, including deputy assessor (municipal governments also found Sanborn maps to be quite useful). This map is a visual snapshot of Jackson in 1890. It tells us that there were seven saloons on a one block stretch of Main Street; that Ginoochio’s Fruit Drying Establishment stored wine casks in their basement; that the employees of the Jackson Brewery slept in the building; and that the Zeila Mining Company had multiple uses for their different rooms and outbuildings. Want to find a Sanborn map of your town? Check with your local library or try the large collection online at the Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps Images: Fire Insurance Maps of Jackson, California, 1890. C067696 #californiahistory #sanborn #maps (fb)