State Library Offers New Online Database

The State Library has added another online database for its customers: Digital Sanborn Maps. Sanborn fire-insurance maps are a very useful tool for local historians, demographers, city planners, genealogists and anyone studying the history of an urban area. The maps were developed by the Sanborn Company in the latter part of the 19th century for the purpose of showing fire hazards for each building in a town.
 
The digital maps cover more than 360 Iowa towns from the 1870's through the 1950's.
 
Some types of information that can be found on these maps include: building construction details (building materials, number of stories, elevators and stairs, date of construction); building use details (building name, commercial or residential, type of business located on the premises); location details (current address, past addresses, alleyways and prominent natural features); and land use details (parks, railroad tracks, underground pipes, street widths, land elevations).
 
To use the maps, you will need a State Library Card.  To search the maps click here. 
Anyone who lives in the state of Iowa is eligible for a State Library card.