The Accidental Revelations of Sanborn Maps

[thelakelander]

How maps created for fire insurers show the evolution of cities.

Sanborn maps are crowded with detail and color. So is their history.

Daniel A. Sanborn created these maps for one, very specific (and kind of dry) reason: to provide insurers a catalogue of city structures that could be fire risks. But over the years, these maps came to serve another purpose. Flipping through a series of maps of the same location, you can see mushrooming buildings, shops, and churches and deduce who lived, worked, and prayed in these structures. So, apart from insurance companies, historians, genealogists, and scholars started looking them them up for the moving pictures of urban growth that they offered.

"It was accidental in some respect," says Chris Genovese, general manager at Sanborn, which still offers mapping services with updated technology. When they started the maps, they had never imagined they would be of use to anyone else but their insurance-company patrons.

Full article: http://www.citylab.com/housing/2014/10/the-accidental-revelations-of-sanborn-maps/381262/

[spuwho]

I agree. Up on the top floor at the Jacksonville Library downtown is a room full of Sanborn maps. (Supervision required, but if you are nice, they will leave you alone)

Using them, I was able to locate a pre-civil war cemetery on the block of Duval/Myrtle/Monroe just west of I-95.

Unfortunately, the urban landscape has changed so much, when I went out to walk the actual space, I was greeted by not 1, but 2, JSO officers wanting to know what my business was even though I was technically parked on a public street (Monroe), it had basically become a tree filled alley.  I tried to explain, and they wouldn't listen and told me to get out of dodge immediately.

I also looked up Sanborn's to examine growth on the southside, especially southward from the southbank into the old Philips neighborhood.

I agree, they are a great historical tool.

[thelakelander]

There was a huge debate on this site about the actual location of that cemetery a few years back.  Some of us believe it is the lot east of Myrtle where several shotgun houses were demolished before 2010.  After further mapping analysis I'm in the group that believes the cemetery was located on the west side of Myrtle.

Lost Church, Lost Battlefield, Lost Cemetery, Lost War
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-mar-lost-church-lost-battlefield-lost-cemetery-lost-war#.VD5dlPldUYk

[thelakelander]

Haha.  As you know, I scanned the original maps mentioned and scaled them with a series of Sanborn maps and present day aerials.  I also saved the results I shared.  I have a deadline for a project today, but I will dig them up and post to show how I came to my final conclusion after I put my fires out.

[JayePorter]

Hi,

While doing some genealogical research I came across a RootsWeb posting from 2001 in which a researcher had listed all of her information on current & historical cemeteries in Duval County. This particular cemetery (Old Brick Church) was included in the list, so I thought I'd attach the link in case anyone was interested.

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/FLDUVAL/2001-06/0991947280

Please note the thread is in two parts.

[spuwho]

Stephen,  Did you ever get pictures of those headstones? Names or dates? I was about to step into the weeds when JSO showed up.

Also checked on the property owners. Last time I looked most of the lots were owned by a guy in Orange Park. I tried to reach him to see if he knew what he had. Perhaps he was aggregating them to make a park since it has Jax history aligned with it.

After JSO chased me off, I kinda dropped it and looked at Sanborns for other areas. I never knew how wide McCoys Creek was until I saw an old map of Brooklyn.

I love those maps.

[thelakelander]

I seriously doubt those were actual headstones. Rocks, construction debris, illegal dumping, perhaps, but headstones? The site east of Myrtle was utilized by a variety of businesses for most of the late 19th/early 20th century. Even if it were a cemetery, headstones would not have survived decades of industrial use, storage yard use, etc., indicated through various Sanborn maps and City Directories over the last century.

[thelakelander]

As this thread's title suggests, the many accidental revelations can be discovered via Sanborn maps. In 1913, the site was a junkyard in the center, with several bordellos, rowhousing, and stables on the remaining sections of the parcel. 


1913 Sanborn

In the 1949 Sanborn map below, the stables have been replaced with a larger industrial building on Adams, rows of shotguns still line Myrtle and Duval. On Monroe, the bordellos in 1913 are apartments in 1949. The undeveloped site is the location of the 1913 junkyard, which has been demolished. The land that was undeveloped in 1913, is now a saw mill. Eight more shotgun houses are also on Monroe in the center of the property.

1949 Sanborn

The last randomly pulled Sanborn is the property in 1958. In this one, the wood yard has closed.

1951 Sanborn

Just in three randomly pulled Sanborns, most of the property where these rocks were "discovered", had a dense collection of buildings sitting on them. While I do believe the cemetery was located on the west side of Myrtle (which has also been developed), cemetery or not, I seriously doubt the rocks are anything significant.  It's hard  imagining over 50 buildings have been built and demolished on that site over the last century but a Civil War era cemetery is all that remains today.

[thelakelander]

I'm sure some of the larger structures had foundations two feet deep. I'm still skeptical, but that's nothing new, considering our analysis years ago.  However, I will post the scaled collection of maps later on.

[thelakelander]

I've been in the field on several projects where people have misinterpreted their findings. It happens.

[spuwho]

Alright you guys. Go easy on each other.

I went back further and found out why Monroe street has that little "kink" in it at Hanover.

In the 1870-1880's a gentleman (haven't found his name yet) built a somewhat large house next to the Old Brick Church property, but Monroe had not yet been platted that far west of the city. The house and property line was aligned somewhat with the St Johns River, not the city.  Later when the city did extend Monroe out farther west, it didn't line up very well with this guys property and for a long time, Monroe ended right there. For all I know it could have been a pretty nice bordello as it was much larger than the surrounding houses and shacks.

In the Sanborn that Lake has posted, that original property has been subdivided 3 ways, but the "kink" in Monroe stayed.  From what I can tell the old cemetery is that little yellow box to the left of #17. At least that is where I was looking before JSO got terse with me. The "Old Brick Church" would have stood between that yellow box and where Monroe was eventually extended.

COJ has thrown up signs on Monroe since I was out there to stay off even though by law it is still a public street. You can see it clearly from I-95.

I will see if I can pull up my research on it.

[thelakelander]

Alright you guys. Go easy on each other.

Ah, we're just having fun. No hard feelings. We've debated this before, years ago.

I went back further and found out why Monroe street has that little "kink" in it at Hanover.

In the 1870-1880's a gentleman (haven't found his name yet) built a somewhat large house next to the Old Brick Church property, but Monroe had not yet been platted that far west of the city. The house and property line was aligned somewhat with the St Johns River, not the city.  Later when the city did extend Monroe out farther west, it didn't line up very well with this guys property and for a long time, Monroe ended right there. For all I know it could have been a pretty nice bordello as it was much larger than the surrounding houses and shacks.

In the Sanborn that Lake has posted, that original property has been subdivided 3 ways, but the "kink" in Monroe stayed.  From what I can tell the old cemetery is that little yellow box to the left of #17. At least that is where I was looking before JSO got terse with me. The "Old Brick Church" would have stood between that yellow box and where Monroe was eventually extended.

COJ has thrown up signs on Monroe since I was out there to stay off even though by law it is still a public street. You can see it clearly from I-95.

I will see if I can pull up my research on it.

When we ran this story years ago, I just assumed the cemetery was on the east side of Myrtle because the guys had maps and said so. A few days later, I was informed by a local historian with an infatuation for abandoned cemeteries that their research had placed the cemetery on the west side of Myrtle. Naturally, there was a disagreement, so I figured since we had the maps, it would be easy to prove one way or the other by overlaying the originals, with Sanborns and present day Google Earth aerials at the same scale. Here's the result:

19th century plat map + 1913 Sanborn map + present day Google Earth aerial. At the same scale, they align perfectly.


Zoomed in view of the 19th century plat map. Mind you, most of these streets were never built.


Zoomed in view of the 19th century plat map with cemetery highlighted in red.


Preparing the 19th century plat map for the early 20th century Sanborn map.


19th century plat map + 1913 Sanborn map. You can see the brick house near Hanover Street in this one. I'm not sure why Monroe changes direction west of Cleveland. It appears it could have been extended, following LaVilla's grid and ended up at Myrtle just fine.  I suspect it the change is likely due to land ownership during that era.


19th century plat map + 1913 Sanborn map + 2012 Google Earth aerial


Finally, removing the 19th century plat map & 1913 Sanborn map, but leaving the cemetery outline overlayed to scale over the 2012 Google Earth aerial.


The map this article was built off of suggests that the cemetery is on the other side of Myrtle and pretty close to the creek that used to run to the west. Now that map could certainly be off or the cemetery could have been larger than it was at the time of that plat. Nevertheless, additional research of the structures built on the east side of Myrtle and some of the industrial uses that took place on that site in the early 20th century would suggest Civil War era graveliners or whatever, probably won't be lying exposed to every joe blow that passes through this forgotten section of LaVilla today.


Btw, that little section of LaVilla used to be pretty cool when I first came to town. It still had stretches of dense housing stock and even in decay, you could get a feel for the area's density during an era long gone bye.  Here's a few pictures of houses on this site that I took over eight years ago.  All of these were demolished a few years back, leaving the field that lies there today.

[Gunnar]

COJ has thrown up signs on Monroe since I was out there to stay off even though by law it is still a public street. You can see it clearly from I-95.

Just out of curiosity: What is the issue with Monroe, i.e. why does the city want people to stay off ?

[thelakelander]

Cause illegal activity has taken place there in the past.

[spuwho]

Good research Lake. I like it. The only concern is translating that original plat mapping to modern more precise grids we have today.

But it is interesting that the cemetery plot line matches the angle of Myrtle very well. I can see why this pull forward of maps is convincing.

This may have been a public burial ground at one time.

Most churches of the era had their cemeteries adjacent to the actual church itself. This is why I was looking off Monroe. I agree with Stephen on the trees being something of an age marker. And that plot of land has a large share of old growth on it.

I will have to go to the library and see if I can find some better records post civil war on what was then Jacksonville's "west side"

As far as JSO and the property restrictions, there was a dumping problem there for awhile and then it was a frequent drug meet location. Fortunately no one has come in and cut down the old growth (yet), that was one of the reasons I was trying to locate the owner of the parcels. That and to get permission to survey it with a detector and see if I could outline the graves with certainty and with legality.