Historic Commercial Street logo for C-Street in Springfield, Missouri

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

Sanborn maps were drawn for fire insurance underwriters, so they record what an underwriter needed to know: each building’s footprint, how many stories it stood, what it was built of, and what went on inside. Color carries meaning. Pink marks brick, yellow marks frame, blue marks stone or concrete. Read in sequence, these five surveys show Commercial Street filling in block by block across eighteen years, and the railroad shops that paid for it all growing alongside.

The sheets are arranged west to east, then the rail yards, then south, following the street as a visitor would walk it. This archive holds twenty-three sheets. The 1896 survey is partial: its index and rail yards sheets were never located, so 1896 is shown by three sheets rather than five.

Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Click any image to open the full map.

1884

Sanborn fire insurance map index for Springfield and North Springfield, Missouri, April 1884.
1884 - Springfield - Legend

1886

Sanborn fire insurance map index for Springfield and North Springfield, Missouri, November 1886.
1886 - Springfield
Sanborn fire insurance map of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1886, west sheet.
1886 - C-Street - West
Sanborn fire insurance map of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1886, central sheet.
1886 - C-Street - Center
Sanborn fire insurance map of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1886, east sheet.
1886 - C-Street - East
Sanborn fire insurance map of the blocks south of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1886.
1886 - C-Street - South
Sanborn fire insurance map of the Frisco rail yards at Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1886.
1886 - C-Street - RR Yards

1891

Sanborn fire insurance map index for Springfield, Missouri, June 1891.
1891 - Springfield
Sanborn fire insurance map of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1891, west sheet.
1891 - C-Street - West
Sanborn fire insurance map of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1891, central sheet.
1891 - C-Street - Center
Sanborn fire insurance map of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1891, east sheet.
1891 - C-Street - East
Sanborn fire insurance map of the Drury College area near Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1891.
1891 - Drury Campus
Sanborn fire insurance map of the Frisco rail yards at Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1891.
1891 - C-Street - RR Yards

1896

Sanborn fire insurance map of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1896, west sheet.
1896 - C-Street - West
Sanborn fire insurance map of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1896, central sheet.
1896 - C-Street - Center
Sanborn fire insurance map of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1896, east sheet.
1896 - C-Street - East

1902

Sanborn fire insurance map index for Springfield, Missouri, August 1902.
1902 - Springfield
Sanborn fire insurance map of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1902, west sheet.
1902 - C-Street - West
Sanborn fire insurance map of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1902, central sheet.
1902 - C-Street - Center
Sanborn fire insurance map of Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1902, east sheet.
1902 - C-Street - East
Sanborn fire insurance map of the Frisco rail yards at Commercial Street, Springfield, MO, 1902.
1902 - C-Street - RR Yards
See The Year By Year Timeline
Read The Building Histories