The publication of fire insurance maps dates to the end of the 18th century, with the earliest maps produced in London, England. Fire insurance maps were created to provide detailed, accurate information about buildings for insurance agents to use to quote fire insurance policies.

D.A. Sanborn, a surveyor from Massachusetts, started producing fire insurance maps in 1866. In 1876 his company became known as the Sanborn Map & Publishing Co. D.A. Sanborn died in 1883 and the Sanborn Company continued on after his death, becoming the largest producer of fire insurance maps in the United States.

In 1883, the Sanborn Co. began depositing a copy of each map they produced with the Library of Congress, resulting in a collection documenting over 12,000 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The 1874 and 1878 Grand Rapids Sanborn maps were discovered in the early 1990s in the attic of a house at 336 Paris Avenue SE. Sanborn fire insurance maps from the 1860s and 1870s are rare today. Generally less than 20 copies were produced of each volume. The maps were lithographically printed and then hand colored with the aid of waxed paper stencils. There are no other known copies of the 1874 and 1878 Grand Rapids maps.

The Library of Congress notes only three volumes of Sanborn maps in their collections prior to 1883: an 1867 Insurance Map of Boston, an 1868 map of Toledo, Ohio and an 1879 map of Rutland, Vermont.

The Library has additional Sanborn maps for Grand Rapids dating from 1888 to the 1950s.

You can also view additional fire insurance maps and information about them through the Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps/