There’s a Map for That

Delve into Arkansas History with our latest database collection, “Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970: Arkansas”.  This rich collection of early maps of cities and towns reveal the original footprints of buildings throughout Arkansas.  Sanborn maps were large-scale plans of a city or town, drawn to a scale of 50 feet to an inch.  These were created from 1867 to 2007 to assist fire insurance companies in assessing the risk of fire to various structures and buildings.  Today, they are used for a wide-variety of purposes, particularly for historic research, urban planning, or restoration of older homes and buildings.

A Sanborn map can show you street names, block numbers, sidewalks, railroad tracks, the location of water mains, churches, businesses, windows, doors, and even porches.  These maps–now digitized and available in an easy-to-search, online database—can carry you back in time to show you how a particular place looked over 100 years ago.

The Library owns the Arkansas collection  of digital maps, which include maps on just about every town in the state.  Smaller towns may contain only a few maps, but larger cities, such as Russellville, will contain maps from multiple years, spanning from the mid-1800’s to the mid-1900’s.

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Once you have selected a city and a map, download the map for easier navigation and zooming.  There is even an option to print selected areas.

Sanborn map 1886, Russellville

July 1886, Sheet 1. One block on Main Street. The train depot is further left, with what is now Denver Ave. bordering on the bottom. The Central Hotel is now Sportscene.

Googlemaps image of Russellville block, modern day

Same block, circa 2016 Google Maps

Travel back in time today by exploring the Digital Sanborn maps.  For other questions about this resource, the library, or other databases available to you as an Arkansas Tech student, consult your Timelord librarians at askalibrarian@atu.edu.