Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of Fargo, North Dakota [1958]
Item
Identifier: Mss 1563
Scope and Content
The 1958 Sanborn atlas (Mss 1563) is a bound edition, titled Insurance Maps of Fargo, North Dakota including South West Fargo & West Fargo. Handwritten on inside the front cover is "Property of Warner and Company. The first page has a Legend, and there is a booklet entitled “Description and Utilization of
the Sanborn Map” (1953). The book contains 73 pages, each sleeved in plastic sleeves.
Dates
- 1958.
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 (73 p.).)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
City maps of Fargo, N.D., originally owned by Warner and Company . of Fargo. Maps were created for insurance purposes. Maps show placement, size, and construction material of all buildings with notes as to location of city water mains, includes street names and subdevelopment names and various pencil notations. Buildings are color coded according to use.
Provenance
Donated by Brian
Hayer, 2019 (2019-005irs)
Property rights
The NDSU Archives owns the property rights to the Fargo editions.
- Title
- Finding Aid of the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Fargo, N.D. [1958]
- 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