Clues to Everyday Life in the 19th Century from a Sanborn Map

By looking more closely at page 5 from the 1886 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Sandusky, Ohio, we can learn more about what everyday life in Sandusky was like in the late nineteenth century. You can tell by all the businesses along Sandusky Bay that the fish and ice industries were important to Sandusky at that time.

Railroad Street is now Shoreline Drive. Instead of large hotel chains, hotels in the late 1800s were usually independently owned, such as the Sloane House, at the corner of Washington Row and Columbus Avenue in the 1880s.

Several livery businesses were located on page 5 of the 1886 Sanborn Map, which provided housing for the animals that were necessary for horse drawn vehicles.

The Active Turner Hall reminds us of Sandusky’s rich German heritage, about which Dr. Ernst Von Schulenberg wrote in his book, Sandusky: Then and Now.

We have three Sanborn Maps from different years at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, as well as three Sanborn Maps, from 1886, 1893, and 1905 available on microfilm. Sanborn Maps may also be accessed online through the ClevnetResearch Databases, after logging in with your library card.