Those of you researching in Nevada will be excited to discover “Nevada in Maps” online, through the University of Nevada, Reno. This database is available on the Nevada Historical Society‘s website under “digital collections.”
Take your pick from topographical, Sanborn fire insurance, mining, historical, highway, and state land plats:
If you have never seen a Sanborn fire insurance map you are in for a treat. You can see the details of every block in a city, like this 1885 map of downtown Carson City:
Notice the Opera house, wagon shop, millinery, candy store, tailor, and barber, among other shops. In residential areas the homes and outbuildings can be seen, and you can see every nook and cranny of your ancestor’s neighborhood.
Sanborn fire insurance maps are available for other states and cities, but can sometimes be hard to access online. This Nevada collection is a real find!
Check out the Library of Congress Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Online Checklist . The L.O.C. has over 675,000 sheets of Sanborn maps! Those that are out of copyright (printed before January 1st, 1923) are scanned and available online via links in the checklist.
To find a Sanborn map for a town or city that is not available online at the Library of Congress, just Google it. You may have access through a state library or university collection, or through a terrific website like “Nevada in Maps.”
On Granny's Trail 