What are Fire Insurance Maps?
Fire Insurance Companies
- Originally created for the fire insurance industry, these maps provide the most complete visual record of the evolving built environment in St. Louis, covering commercial, industrial, and residential neighborhoods.
- Urban planners, architects, urban archeologists, and historians as well as to those engaged in family, neighborhood, and house history regularly consult the fire insurance maps.
Sanborn and Whipple
- In St. Louis, Alphonso Whipple produced fire insurance maps between 1870 and 1898. This company was then absorbed by the larger Sanborn Company.
- Sanborn maps date back to the 1860s and were created as a detailed building record by the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company. They are large scale (50 feet to the inch) and highly detail and include such information as building location, construction materials, and building height.
Why consult multiple editions?
- Fire insurance companies frequently updated their maps with paste-over notes as cities added infrastructure and buildings changed.
- Today researchers often consult the same dated map from multiple libraries or databases to see if additional information can be determined.
- This can be especially useful if you are researching a small area such as specific block or structure.
Best bet: Fire Insurance Maps online (FIMo)
Digital Sanborn Maps - St. Louis and more
- Fire Insurance Maps online (FIMo) This link opens in a new windowA research portal to find and view high-definition, color Fire Insurance Maps, Real Estate Atlases, Plat Books, and other historical maps showing building structures, building construction details, property ownership, property uses, and other useful information. This subscription includes Illinois and Missouri. Learn more about this database
In addition to Illinois and Missouri, WashU Libraries' FIMo subscription includes the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
Other cities in Missouri
Digital Whipple Maps of St. Louis
- Unreal CityWashington University Libraries and the Missouri History Museum hold approximately 3,300 fire insurance maps produced in St. Louis by Alphonso Whipple between 1870 and 1898. Visit the Unreal City to view these historic maps of St. Louis.
Currently use of these paper maps is restricted by their brittle condition, but through this joint digital project, the maps are now made available to the public.
Sanborn Maps - other formats
Black and White Digital Sanborn
- "Digital Sanborn Maps" is an online resource consisting of scanned black and white images of Sanborn maps for Missouri.
- The maps were produced between 1876 and 1970, and can be searched by city and date.
- St. Louis City
This link opens in a new window
Maps for St. Louis are available from circa 1903 - 1950 - St. Louis Metropolitan Area
- This link opens in a new window
Kirkwood (1926-1949)
St. Charles (1886 -1947)
St. Peters (1912 & 1917)
O'Fallon, MO (1912)
Original Printed Sanborn Maps
- 1998-99 Sanborn Maps (Print)1998-1999 Sanborn maps for St. Louis can be viewed in the Art and Architecture Library. An available street index can be used to locate the volume and page for your area of interest.
- 1990 Sanborn Maps (print)1990 Sanborn Maps can be requested from storage and used at the Art and Architecture Library or Special Collections.