Editing Sanborn maps (section)

== History ==

[[File:Lagoon Map 1911.JPEG|left|thumb|1911 Sanborn map showing Lagoon Amusement Park in [[Farmington, Utah]]]]

In the late 18th century, insurance companies in London began to create detailed maps to give underwriters the information they needed to assess fire risk.  The practice was adopted by American insurance companies in the mid-19th century.<ref name="loc"/>  Demand for fire insurance mapping grew rapidly after the end of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].  Factors such as the [[Homestead Act]], [[railroad]] construction, the [[Second Industrial Revolution]] and massive [[immigration to the United States]] all fostered huge population growths, urbanization, and heightened demand for mapping.

[[Daniel Alfred Sanborn]], a civil engineer and surveyor, began working on fire insurance maps in 1866. That year, he was contracted by the [[Aetna|Aetna Insurance Company]] to prepare maps of areas in [[Tennessee]]. About the same time, he developed similar maps of [[Boston]], published as ''Insurance Map of Boston,'' Volume 1, 1867. Seeing a lucrative market for this type of map, he established the D. A. Sanborn National Insurance Diagram Bureau in New York City to publish the Boston atlas and develop and sell maps of additional areas.<ref name="loc"/>

Within several decades, the company became the largest and most successful American map company. This growth came about through savvy management and the buyout of competing firms. In 1889 Sanborn acquired Perris and Browne, an older firm, and can by virtue of this expansion date its origins to 1852. The firm name established by Sanborn in 1867 was changed in 1876 when the firm was incorporated under the name Sanborn Map and Publishing Company, which then became the Sanborn-Perris Map Company, Ltd. until 1902, when the name was shortened to the Sanborn Map Company.<ref>{{citation|title=Introduction to the Sanborn Map Collection|last=Ristow|first=Walter W.|url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/geogmap/sanborn/san4a1.html}}. Regarding Sanborn's acquisition of Perris, Ristow gives the year as 1899, but on the published maps the name changed from 1889 to 1890. See for example the [[c:File:Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from San Francisco, San Francisco County, California. LOC sanborn00813_005-2.jpg|title page]] from: ''Insurance Maps of San Francisco, California''. Volume 3. (New York: Sanborn Map & Publishing Company Limited, 1889) and the [[c:File:Sanborn Manhattan V. 4 title page publ. 1890.jpg|title page]] from: ''Insurance Maps of the City of New York Surveyed and Published by Sanborn–Perris Map Co., Limited''. Volume 4. (New York: 1890).</ref>

In 1916, Sanborn purchased its last major competitor, the E. Hexamer & Sons of Philadelphia, and became a [[monopoly]].  Company headquarters moved to 629 Fifth Avenue in northern [[Pelham, New York]], but there were also regional offices in [[San Francisco]], [[Chicago]], and [[Atlanta]]. The Sanborn Company sent out legions of surveyors to map building footprints in all major urbanized areas, along with building details related to fire risk.  At its peak in the 1920s, the company employed about 700 people, including about 300 field surveyors and 400 cartographers, printers, managers, salesmen, and support staff.  Areas under intensive development were surveyed every six months.<ref name="ristow1968"/>
[[File:"MARKET STREET CABLE R. W. CO." in 1889 map detail, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from San Francisco, San Francisco County, California. LOC sanborn00813 005-9 (cropped).jpg|thumb|"MARKET STREET CABLE R. W. CO." in 1889 map detail from Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of [[San Francisco]], California]]
Sanborn's monopoly was resented by some insurance companies for its high cost.  The Underwriter's Association of the Pacific complained that an "Eastern monopoly" was giving service that was "very slow, expensive, and generally unsatisfactory."  In the 1910s, the National Board of Fire Underwriters investigated the possibility of creating its own maps.  However, many insurance companies opposed the proposal, citing the "very large expenditure" required and their satisfaction with Sanborn's "commendably satisfactory" service.  Instead, the NBFU Map Committee took an active role in Sanborn's operations.  In 1922, Sanborn agreed to add a member of the Map Committee to its [[Board of Directors]], and a second seat was added by 1927.  However, the onset of the [[Great Depression]] greatly curtailed construction activity in the United States.  By 1936, Sanborn had reduced its publishing output from 60 to 20 volumes per year, a pace that would take over 50 years to update the entire map collection.<ref name="ristow1968"/>

=== Decline of insurance business ===

In the 1950s, insurance companies began to use an alternative form of [[underwriting]] known as ''line carding''.<ref name="loc"/><ref name="buffett1960"/>  Line carding had been used for decades to underwrite properties that were not covered by fire maps.<ref name="alabama1921">{{cite book|title=Annual Report of the Commissioner of Insurance of the State of Alabama for the Year Ending December 31, 1921|date=1922|publisher=Brown Printing Company|location=Montgomery, Alabama|page=44|quote=Maps are kept of business in the downtown district and proper care is exercised in considering block lines and conflagration hazard.  They propose to institute a line card system to properly care for lines not shown on maps.}}</ref>  Each insured property was listed on a single card, and no map was kept.  Corporate mergers also reduced the need for Sanborn Maps, since the consolidated company only needed to buy one set of maps.  As insurance companies increased in size, they could withstand larger disasters and no longer needed to use insurance maps to reduce their concentration of risk.  Companies also cited "modern building construction, better [[building code|building fire codes]], and improved fire protection methods for the decline in importance of fire insurance maps."<ref name="ristow1968"/>

From the late 1930s to the late 1950s, Sanborn's annual profit fell from $500,000 to just $100,000.  About thirty insurance companies accounted for most of the company's sales.  However, its monopoly over insurance mapping had allowed it to earn substantial profits over the decades.  These profits were invested in a portfolio of stocks and bonds.  By 1958, the stock was selling for $45 per share, but the investment portfolio was worth $65 per share.  This attracted the attention of the young [[Warren Buffett]], who pressured the company to distribute the investment portfolio to shareholders.<ref name="buffett1960"/>
[[File:"New Orleans Brewing Association" Brewery in 1896, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. LOC sanborn03376 007-3 (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|"New Orleans Brewing Association" Brewery in 1896 from Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of New Orleans]]
Buffett eventually purchased 23% of the company's outstanding shares as an [[activist investor]], representing 35% of his investment partnership's total [[assets under management]].  Allied with other dissatisfied shareholders, Buffett could count on the votes of at least 44% of the shares in a [[proxy fight]].  The Board agreed to [[Share repurchase|buy back]] shares from any shareholder at fair value, paying with a portion of its investment portfolio.  72% of the outstanding shares were turned in.<ref name="buffett1960"/>  In just two years, Buffett had secured a 50% return on his investment.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lowenstein|first1=Roger|title=Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist|date=1995|publisher=Random House Trade Paperbacks|location=New York|isbn=9780804150606|pages=65–66|edition=2008 Trade Paperback}}</ref>

With the decline of its insurance business, Sanborn could no longer afford to maintain its army of surveyors.  However, the company continued to sell its maps and perform some updates. Government sales began to play a larger role, especially the [[United States Census Bureau|Census Bureau]] and municipal planning agencies.  Sanborn printed its last catalog in 1950, created its last new map in 1961, and issued its last update in 1977.<ref name="loc"/>

In 1996, the license for the maps was acquired by land data company Environmental Data Resources (EDR).<ref name=loc1/>{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}  In 2019, EDR was acquired by real estate services company LightBox.<ref name=real1/>

Over time, Sanborn diversified into other mapping activities, and as of 2020 is a geospatial specialist and holder of electronic GIS assets and systems, though the fire insurance business continues as a niche department. Corporate headquarters are in Colorado.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.sanborn.com/|title = Corporate home page|accessdate = 2015-05-14|website = Total Geospatial Solutions|publisher = Sanborn}}</ref>

{{Anchor|Modern uses}}