Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Fargo, North Dakota [1929-1956]
Item
Identifier: Mss 1564
Scope and Content
The 1929 Sanborn atlas (Mss 1564) is a bound edition, titled Insurance Maps of Fargo, North Dakota including West Fargo & S.W. Fargo. Inscribed inside the front cover is "Assessor's Office, Fargo." Pasted in the front cover are two indexes, "Additional index, May 1951" and "Addenda, Aug., 1956, to Additional Index of May, 1951." This atlas includes many paste-on correction slips, thus preventing the user to view the original sheets or earlier paste-overs. The index map indicates sixty-five separate sheets, but there are two additional sheets in the atlas which were added later. There is also a "Correction Record" on this sheet indicating fifteen paste-on slips were received and added to the original atlas. They
date from the early 1930s to 1956.
Dates
- 1929-1956.
Creator
- Sanborn Map Company. (Organization)
Access
The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the NDSU Archives.
Copyrights
Copyrights to this collection are not held by the NDSU Archives.
History
Insurance maps and plans originated in London toward the end of the 18th Century in response to the
need felt by large fire insurance companies and underwriters for accurate, current, and detailed information about the buildings they were insuring. A London company, Phoenix Assurance Company, extended its coverage to include the United States by the 1790s. George T. Hope is generally credited from having fostered the idea of specialized and detailed fire insurance maps in the United States. Around 1849 or 1850 Hope, who was at the time secretary of the Jefferson Insurance Company in New York City, began to compile a large-scale map of a portion of New York City for use in calculating fire risks on business and residential structures. Other American companies followed Hope's lead with additional maps made for other American cities.
D.A. Sanborn, a young surveyor from Somerville, Massachusetts, was engaged in 1866 by Aetna Insurance Company to prepare insurance maps for several cities in Tennessee. Before working for Aetna, Sanborn conducted surveys and compiled an atlas of the city of Boston. The success of the Boston atlas and the commission from Aetna must have impressed Sanborn, for after the work in Tennessee he established the D.A. Sanborn National Insurance Diagram Bureau in New York City in 1867. From this modest beginning grew the specialized company that has compiled and published maps of more than 12,000 American towns and cities for insurance companies for more than a hundred years.
D.A. Sanborn died in 1883. The company he founded, however, continued to grow. In 1899 it acquired the Perris and Browne firm and can by virtue of this expansion date its origins to 1852. The firm name established by Sanborn in 1867 was changed in 1876 when the firm was incorporated under the name Sanborn Map and Publishing Company, which then became the Sanborn Perris Map Company, Ltd., until, in 1902, the name was shortened to the Sanborn Map Company, the form which the company uses today.
By 1920 Sanborn virtually monopolized the insurance map industry. The company had only two or three small competitors, including Walter I. Fisher who, operated in Minneapolis as the General Inspection Bureau, published insurance maps of more than 640 towns in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota between 1907 and the 1960s.
D.A. Sanborn, a young surveyor from Somerville, Massachusetts, was engaged in 1866 by Aetna Insurance Company to prepare insurance maps for several cities in Tennessee. Before working for Aetna, Sanborn conducted surveys and compiled an atlas of the city of Boston. The success of the Boston atlas and the commission from Aetna must have impressed Sanborn, for after the work in Tennessee he established the D.A. Sanborn National Insurance Diagram Bureau in New York City in 1867. From this modest beginning grew the specialized company that has compiled and published maps of more than 12,000 American towns and cities for insurance companies for more than a hundred years.
D.A. Sanborn died in 1883. The company he founded, however, continued to grow. In 1899 it acquired the Perris and Browne firm and can by virtue of this expansion date its origins to 1852. The firm name established by Sanborn in 1867 was changed in 1876 when the firm was incorporated under the name Sanborn Map and Publishing Company, which then became the Sanborn Perris Map Company, Ltd., until, in 1902, the name was shortened to the Sanborn Map Company, the form which the company uses today.
By 1920 Sanborn virtually monopolized the insurance map industry. The company had only two or three small competitors, including Walter I. Fisher who, operated in Minneapolis as the General Inspection Bureau, published insurance maps of more than 640 towns in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota between 1907 and the 1960s.
Extent
1 Items (1 item (67 p.).)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
City maps of Fargo, N.D., created for insurance purposes. Includes original maps from 1929 with corrections and additions from 1931 to 1956. Portions of West Fargo and Southwest Fargo are included. Maps show placement, size, and construction materials of all buildings with notes as to location of city water mains, includes street names and subdevelopment names. Buildings are color coded according to use.
Provenance
Donated by H. R. Arneson, 1993 (Acc. 2336)
Property rights
The NDSU Archives owns the property rights.
- Fargo (N.D.) -- Maps.
- Insurance, Fire -- Dwellings -- North Dakota -- Fargo.
- Insurance, Fire -- Dwellings -- North Dakota -- West Fargo.
- Insurance, Fire -- North Dakota -- Fargo -- Buildings.
- Insurance, Fire -- North Dakota -- Fargo -- Maps.
- Insurance, Fire -- North Dakota -- West Fargo -- Buildings.
- Insurance, Fire -- North Dakota -- West Fargo -- Maps.
- West Fargo (N.D.) -- Maps.
Creator
- Sanborn Map Company. (Organization)
- Title
- Finding aid to the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Fargo, North Dakota [1929-1956]
- Description rules
- Appm
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Institute for Regional Studies Repository
Contact:
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States
ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States
ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu