Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
I’m a member of lots of amazing Facebook Groups for all different topics, from photography and social media (my main business) to vintage campers (my other love) and one awesome one all about old houses. It’s inspiring (and terrifying) to read everyone’s posts, learn history about areas all over the country, learn about house styles and renovating/restoring projects. It’s been only 2 months and I am beyond enjoying it. Giddy is the word.
I learned about Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps in that group. This is seriously one of the coolest things ever. The Library of Congress has made it all public, searchable and the ease of use is killer. I have clicked and clicked and zoomed and clicked and FINALLY FOUND OUR HOUSE!!! It turns out that our street was formerly known as J Street, which is why I had a hard time navigating the maps. Once I hit 1911, our street was named what it is today and the maps had expanded enough to include our block.
Our house was supposedly built in 1900. I have since learned that while this may be accurate, a lot of times the city records list 1900 because they don’t know exactly when it was built. I have found my mission - confirm 1900 or find out the accurate date. Starting with these maps, I can at least try to find out what existed in 1898, 1907 and then 1911 when I could easily find the house. I’m still clicking & zooming! More to come.
In 1911, Medford had 10,500 people. Today, it has 83,000.
We are in Jackson County and are the title seat of the county
We’re less than 30 miles from the California border
We sit at 1380’ elevation, in the Rogue Valley between the Siskiyou Mountains and the Cascades
In 1911, the average home cost about $3200, the average car was about $2000
Check.it.out.
The front page, where I found out our street used to be named something else!
Our area
