New Online: "Digitizing Kansas Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1883-1922"

The Spencer Library at the University of Kansas has digitized and made a collection Sandborn Maps for 241 Kansas towns and cities covering a period from 1883 through the 1930s available online (free).

From a KU Libraries Announcement:

The Sanborn Map Company, of Pelham, New York, began surveying the business districts of cities and towns across the United States in the late 1860s. Their intent was to provide insurance underwriters with detailed information about the locations of businesses, the structures they were located in, and any information needed to assess their liability for insurance purposes.

Surveyors noted the size, shape, and construction of homes, commercial buildings and factories, the location of windows and doors, the existence of sprinkler systems and fire walls, the types of roofs, the widths and names of streets, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers.

Direct to Digitized Collection of Sandborn Maps For Cities and Towns in Kansas (from Spencer Library, University of Kansas)

See Also: Recently Posted: Now Available Online: Utah: A Collection of Digitized Sandborn Insurance Maps (

Filed under: Libraries, Maps, Resources