Sacramento Historic House Blog

*photo created from map found on Sacramento History Online.

This Map of Sacramento from around 1922 is just one of the interesting treasures I’ve stumbled upon since doing house history research. One of my current clients lives in East Sacramento and it was interesting to see on this map where her house and her street had been farmland not so long ago. The map can be viewed in its entirety at the Sacramento History online website.

Speaking of maps, if you are interested in seeing changes to your house and property over the years… the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps are available at the downtown library on microfilm. These maps were created to give Insurance agents a better idea of whether or not a property had a significant fire risk. So you might be able to tell from the maps how many doors a building has or what type of roof and where the water main is located. Just go to the third floor of the Central Library and ask for the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps at the microfilm/periodicals desk… or as Jack Bauer would say, “Give me the schematics!”

A word of warning, viewing the maps on microfilm can be really confusing. Be sure to locate your block on the big map at the beginning of the microfilm as that will show you which “map number” you will need to locate. Also keep in mind that the Sanborn company did not release a new map each year, but rather pasted changes over the old maps… so what you see on the microfilm may not be the original structure of your house or property, but rather the pasted on change. I’ve found that you can get a pretty accurate view from three different time periods: pre-1915, 1915-1952, and 1952 to the 70’s.

Now remember you can hire me (web [at] sachistorichouse [dot] com) to research your house history and therefore bypass all of those pesky downtown parking meters.