ILLINOI UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2012. S COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION In Public Domain. Published 1923-1977 in the U.S. without printed copyright notice. This digital copy was made from the printed version held by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was made in compliance with copyright law. Prepared for the Brittle Books Project, Main Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2012 SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY 1866-1926 SANBORN MAP COMPANY - ~;;P i :: : :ij .Bi ; I ' ~t ;- i:~- - /lj "i; :"; I -- Y.: M~AP ROA 1hF,9 SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY I- : ,~: w i:i; SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY 1866-1926 SANBORN MAP COMPANY Privately Printed SANBORN MAP COMPANY NEW YORK AN HISTORICAL SK&TCH T HE SANBORN MAP COMPANY, on this its Sixtieth Anniversary, takes pleasure in addressing you as one of its old and good friends. The business started as the handiwork of almost one man and has grown into a national industry in which are engaged today over one thousand men and women. Sev- -> eral more or less sporadic attempts at fire insurance map- making had been made in England and the United States prior to the original work by Mr. D. A. Sanborn, the t founder of this business. But to him should be given the 2 credit of being the real pioneer in insurance map-making, as he was the first to demonstrate the immense practical value of such maps to fire insurance underwriters. He , had the gruelling experience of origination, lack of financial support, skepticism of associates and custo- mers. The latter part of his life, though he was broken in health, his undaunted spirit rose superior to all ob- stacles. At his death in 1883, the Sanborn Map and Pub- .lishing Co., Limited, was well established and in good repute. The high ideals, integrity and pride in producing the best service possible of our founder have been per- petuated today in the conduct of our business. In 1866 the "D. A. Sanborn National Diagram Bu- reau" was established. The first ten years were a hard struggle. Anyone with less energy and faith in ultimate success would have given up this enterprise which means so much to the insurance world. In the first year fifty towns and cities were mapped, and seven years later the list had grown to over six hundred maps. With insuffi- cient help and indifferent support at this early date, Mr. Sanborn's vision had courageously embraced the entire United States as his field of operation, extending from the Atlantic through the Middle West to the Pacific Coast. Two years after establishing the business, Mr. Sanborn copyrighted a key of symbols of his own design which has been perpetuated and today controls the char- acter of fire insurance maps. This "key" describes by colors, characters and signs any building or group of buildings, and its symbols have become as familiar to fire underwriters and other users of Sanborn Maps as the alphabet. Looking at such a diagram, an insurance un- derwriter can visualize the actual building on the ground, and thus form his own judgment whether to ac- cept or reject it as an offered risk. Mr. Sanborn employed at the start a few civil engi- neers as surveyors. Among the earliest of these were: W. H. Martin, C. W. Morse, Dan. C. Beard, J. Sherman, C. . #& 4q FRONT VIEW PANORAMIC VIEW Main Publishing Plant and General Office Pelham, N. . B. King, Rice, C. D. Watkins, C. S. Yerkes and others. In 1872, Mr. S. E. Buchanan, a civil engineer from Newport, Kentucky, joined the staff of surveyors. Mr. Buchanan was destined to become very influential in the affairs of the company and to guide its course for many years as Associate Manager, General Manager and Chairman of the Board of Directors. In ten years the "D. A. Sanborn National Diagram Bureau" had issued over one thousand maps, and the commercial success of the business was sufficiently dem- onstrated to interest capital. As a consequence, at the New York office of the Continental Fire Insurance Com- pany, on February 3, 1876, was organized the Sanborn Map and Publishing Co., Limited, with a Board of Di- rectors as follows: Ezra White, Geo. L. Chase, Peter Notman, D. A. Sanborn, Geo. T. Hope and John W. Murray. The first officers were Geo. L. Chase, President, Peter Notman, Secretary, and J. W. Murray, Treasurer. The company was now fully launched on its career of achievement and usefulness and spread rapidly by aug- menting its field and office forces. In the early seventies Mr. Wm. H. Oram Smith, an architectural draughts- man, was employed. During his connection with the company for more than thirty years, he did much to- wards standardizing the draughting of Sanborn Maps. Some of the other publishing processes, such as coloring, mounting and binding, were carried out through con- tracts with John Schmidt, for many years located at 37 Barclay Street, New York. As time passed, however, Mr. Schmidt's business became a subsidiary to the San- born Company, and finally in 1907 his business was en- tirely taken over, and its personnel became the nucleus of the company's own factory, located at Pelham, New York. John Schmidt was in New York City regarded as a master craftsman bookbinder, and as Mr. D. A. San- born from the very beginning had been a stickler for quality of product from start to finish, he sought him out to do his work. In 1876 began what has since developed to be one of our major operations. The innovation was the revision or correcting with pasters of bound volumes. By this means the maps of all large cities are continually cor- rected to show the building conditions up-to-date. In the past, and at the present time still more so, this has saved our customers a great deal of money by obviating the re-issuing of bound volumes in their entirety. Mr. Chas. F. Sanborn, a son of the founder, started in 1877 as a surveyor for the company. He showed early in life a remarkable aptitude for leadership, which un- doubtedly would have been his had he lived. He died in 1881, loved and esteemed by all who had had the pleas- ure of his acquaintance. In January, 1884, two thousand maps were published, including forty cities requiring bound volumes. After the death of Mr. D. A. Sanborn, which occurred April 11, 1883, Mr. P. L. Arnold and Mr. S. E. Bu- chanan became Associate Managers. Mr. Arnold had for some years been employed in an executive position specializing in publishing, and Mr. Buchanan, who had had several years' experience as a surveyor in the field, took full charge of the field work, a most important part of insurance map-making. In 1889 the Perris and Browne Company, which had published maps since 1852, of what is now known as the Borough of Manhattan of New York City, was merged with the Sanborn organization. The name of the corpo- ration was changed to the Sanborn-Perris Map Com- pany, Limited. In 1902 it assumed its present corporate name, Sanborn Map Company. Holding fast to the rule laid down by Mr. Sanborn to produce only the best, the company grew steadily, and in 1894 there were four thousand maps published, in- cluding one hundred and twenty cities requiring one or more volumes. In 1900oo the main office was moved from the old Boreal Building, at 115-17 Broadway, to the Bowling Green Building, 11 Broadway, New York City, where its executive offices are still located. In May, 1900, Mr. P. L. Arnold died, and Mr. S. E. Buchanan became Manager, with Mr. J. E. Gardner as Assistant Manager. Under the able and steady guidance of Mr. Buchanan, the company kept pace with the building growth of the country, having proved its inestimable worth in fire insurance underwriting. It became an in- tegral part of the great business stabilizer - the fire insurance business. The larger proportions of its activities called for com- plete publishing plants of its own, where all publishing operations could be executed, instead of being done by contract with different concerns. Consequently, in 190o6, a five-acre tract of land was purchased in North Pelham, Westchester County, New York, a suburb of New York City. Here was erected in the following year a group of modern, fireproof buildings. Mr. J. E. Gardner was appointed Superintendent. Central Department, Publishing Plant and Office Chicago, Illinois The management's progressive response to requests for new maps is best shown by the increase in the scope of its publications. In 19o5 six thousand maps, includ- ing two hundred cities with bound volumes, and in 1916 over eight thousand maps, including two hundred and eighty cities with bound volumes, were published. The year 1916 was the company's fiftieth Anniversary, and a handsome booklet was published entitled "A Story of Accomplishment." In this booklet are given in precise and accurate details the intricate processes of surveying and publishing of Sanborn maps. During the period of the World War, the Sanborn Map Company was affected in the same manner as all other concerns in the United States but kept very much alive. It can be mentioned that the company furnished the Federal Government with detail maps of every sea- port in the United States free of charge. Army Com- manders who never before knew of the existence of such maps became aware of their usefulness. After the World War came a readjustment period. In 1921, after forty-nine years of continuous service, Mr. S. E. Buchanan retired as General Manager and became Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Wm. A. San- born, son of Mr. D. A. Sanborn, was elected General Manager with Mr. Rich W. Hollaman as Assistant General Manager. Mr. Sanborn appreciated the diffi- culty of keeping in touch with local conditions through- out the broad confines of the country. He subdivided the force of surveyors in the Eastern Department, plac- ing in each zone a supervisor who has been able to pro- mote efficiency with the men working under him in lo- calities that need attention most. Mr. S. E. Buchanan died on April 23, 1922, having reached the allotted span of 'three score and ten," admired by his associates and respected by his employees. He had been a dominant factor in the development of the company and for many years the controlling hand in its affairs. About two or three years after the World War started the building boom in almost all the towns and cities throughout the country, and a great demand for the com- pany's publications came from all parts, especially from the Southern States. - Io Another change in management took place in 1925, when Mr. Chas. E. Chase, who had been President of the company since 1917, became Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Wm. A. Sanborn, President, Mr. R. W. Hollaman, Vice-President, and Mr. E. H. Cross, Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer, which posi- tions he has held since 1914- This year is the Sixtieth Anniversary of the company, and in its catalogue are listed over thirteen thousand maps, of which three hundred and sixty-five are large cities requiring one or more bound volumes. It might be mentioned that nearly every town with a thousand in- habitants and over in the United States and territories has been mapped. To duplicate its records would require the expenditure of many millions of dollars and about twenty-five years with its present number of employees. The main office and publishing plant is located at Pelham, N. Y. Branch offices and publishing plants are also maintained at Chicago and San Francisco. A Chi- cago office was begun in 1882 as a sales office, with Mr. Chas. S. Yerkes in charge. It gradually expanded into a branch with activities similar to the main office in New York. In 1893, Mr. L. L. Buchanan with Mr. W. V. Wackerbarth were appointed Managers here, and it be- came an important branch under the name of the "Cen- tral Department." From this office are directed all the company's activities in the Middle Western States. Mr. L. L. Buchanan now remains as sole Manager and Mr. ,,O .IIAf ILor . d, te. Wackerbarth acts as Sales Manager. The company owns its large building at 676 St. Clair Street, which was doubled in size last year. The Pacific Department was established in San Francisco as a sales office in the early eighties. It evolved in the same manner as the Central Department into a branch whose activities embrace the Pacific Coast States. The San Francisco office and plant is located in the Sanborn Building, 640 California Street. Mr. Thos. White has been Pacific Department Manager for many years. Skill and conscientiousness on the part of the field en- gineer and craftsman are outstanding factors in our spe- cialized industry. Sanborn Maps are "hand-picked" products. Although, wherever practicable, modern ma- chinery and processes are utilized, the making of our maps is still one of the ancient crafts, in which the soul of the craftsman finds inspiration and expression. It can truly be said that the Sanborn Map Company's activities represent sixty years of service, and for that reason its influence in business has been constructive. For many years it served only the fire insurance interests, but in later years the value of its unique product has been recognized and used by many city departments, public utility companies and others. It furnishes prac- tically the only record extant showing the urban growth in the United States during the last sixty years. This in itself is a wonderful achievement. Although the com- pany's activities cover all the States of the Union, as #*% 12 A4, Pacific Department, Publishing Plant and Office San Francisco, Calif. well as the territories of Hawaii and Alaska, and the methods in fire insurance underwriting differ greatly in the far-reaching sections of the country, the Sanborn Maps are surprisingly uniform and standardized. The Sanborn Map Company has been fortunate al- ways to have had at its helm conservative but progres- sive men of large affairs. Some of the most influential executives of large domestic and foreign fire insurance companies have been and are now represented on its Board of Directors. There have been three generations of Chases-Mr. Geo. L. Chase, its first President-his son, Mr. Chas. E. Chase, now Chairman of the Board- and Mr. Chas. E. Chase's son, Mr. Porter B. Chase, now acting as a Director. '% 3 134 In this short narrative of the company's history, it is well to add something about its employees in the past and present. In this respect the company has also been fortunate, but not perhaps in an accidental sense. On account of the nature of its product it has given steady employment, and the attitude of the management to- wards employees has always been sympathetic. It has on its field force as well as in its plants many with a rec- ord of from twenty-five to forty years of service. The management endeavors to miss no opportunity to incul- cate into the entire personnel of the organization the ambition to develop and improve our methods. We are grateful to the many fine men who have given the best of their lives to this undertaking and appreciate the re- sponsibility of carrying on their work. We are jealous of our organization's reputation and particularly proud of its high standard of workmanship. Oficers 1926 CHAS. E. CH AS E, Chairman of the Board WM. A. SAN BORN, President RICH W. H OLLAMAN, Vice President and Secretary CHARLES G. SMITH, Vice President E. H. CROS S, Ass't Secretary and Ass't !rreasurer Directors CHAS. E. CHASE CHARLES G. SMITH JOHN A. FORSTER WM. A. SANBORN ARTHUR L SHIPMAN RICH W. HOLLAMAN CHAS. R. STREET C. A. LUDLUM PORTER B. CHASE SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES HAVE BEEN PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR THE SANBORN MAP COMPANY, NEW YORK. THIS COPY IS PRESENTED TO This book is a preservation facsimile produced for the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It is made in compliance with copyright law and produced on acid-free archival 60# book weight paper which meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper). Preservation facsimile printing and binding by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2012