The Most Detailed Mapping of Long Beach's Built Environment Over the First Half of the 20th-Century
The present massive 3-volume Long Beach Sanborn fire insurance atlas, containing approximately 241 map sheets, is remarkable for documenting immense changes to the city's built landscape over nearly half a century (1914-1957). The respective pasted-in updates having been dutifully inserted by Sanborn Map employees over the course of 38 dated visits, as indicated in the update log of each volume. Various index updates are also included in the opening pages of each volume.
This 3-volume atlas includes information on Long Beach's urban layout, water facilities, factories, Signal Hill oil district, industrial buildings, providing a detailed representation of the city's infrastructure systems during the first half of the 20th century. Executed with a scale 50 feet to an inch, the atlas shows nearly every building in Long Beach, with block-by-block, street-by-street, structure-by-structure, color-coded representations. Use of each structure is given: dwelling, grocery, storage, lumber yard, movie theater, church, hardware, etc., often recording the name of the individual business owner. Color coding denotes building material (yellow for frame structures, tan/brown for fireproof buildings; red for brick, blue for stone, and the like).
The first volume includes a special WWII-era notice printed in red ink citing the U.S. Espionage Act, referring to the need to keep information concerning properties related to National Defense activities strictly confidential. Further stating:
Tracings or other reproductions of Sanborn Maps in full or in part are prohibited.
The Growth of Long Beach
After a faltering start in the 1880s as an agricultural colony (originally named for its founder, William Erwin Willmore), Long Beach eventually grew into the second largest city within present Los Angeles County. Early attempts at developing the area, such as the California Co-Operative Colony, which operated by a subscription system whereby shareholders bought a $140 share of stock entitling them to a business or residential lot in the proposed town, did not pan out well. The big impetus to developing Long Beach finally came with the discovery of oil in Signal Hill in the 1920s. Signal Hill City is well mapped in the present atlas set, as is part of neighboring Lakewood.
From 1914 to the 1950s (the timeframe covered by the atlas volumes), Long Beach experienced significant growth and transformation, becoming a nexus of economic and cultural activity in Southern California. During this period, the Port of Long Beach expanded, evolving into one of the largest and most important shipping points in the United States, fostering trade and spurring the local economy. Concurrently, the discovery of oil in Signal Hill in the 1920s transformed the landscape, with oil derricks dominating the skyline and fortifying Long Beach's economic prominence. In 1933, a devastating earthquake struck the city, causing widespread damage and leading to rigorous rebuilding efforts, much of which is documented in the present Sanborn atlas. As the broader Los Angeles region expanded during the 20th century, Long Beach became enveloped in its sprawl, with the dominance of automobile transportation playing a central role in reshaping the urban fabric, at once facilitating the interconnectedness of Southern Californian cities while creating bottlenecks to mobility that continue to this day.
1933 Long Beach Earthquake
The Long Beach earthquake of March 10, 1933, which claimed at least 120 fatalities in the area and destroyed or seriously damaged many buildings - including most of the city's schools - adds an additional layer of interest to the present atlas, as the destroyed schools and other buildings can be seen under the pasted-in updates depicting newer structures as the city rebuilt through the 1930s and beyond. The explosive growth that characterized the post-war years is also well depicted in the large number of homes added to the maps in the 1940s and 1950s.
A selection of places identified in the atlas here follows:
- Blake-Moffitt & Towne Paper Co.
- Craig Ship Building Inc.
- Cyclone Racer Racing Coaster
- Ford Motor Co. Assembly Plant
- John C. Fremont Public School
- Lakewood Country Club
- Lido Dance Hall
- Long Beach City College (built on the site of Hamilton Junior High)
- Long Beach Municipal Airport (with flying school buildings)
- Los Cerritos School
- Maney Aircraft Parts Inc.
- Oil tanks (build on erstwhile site of Long Beach Zoo)
- Polytechnic High School (destroyed in the 1933 earthquake, but here shown with pasted-on updates showing the reconstruction)
- Proctor & Gamble Co.
- Roller Skating Rink on Alamitos (between 6th and 7th)
- Signal Hill City (extensive oil wells and oil derricks)
- South Pacific Canning Co.
Rarity
The complete Long Beach Sanborn atlas set, with all 3 volumes present, is very rare in commerce. Our example may be a unique surviving exemplar, incorporating a large number of pasted-in updates and changes, during the years 1914 through 1957.
OCLC locates only two examples of the 3-volume set, at the Huntington Library and USC, though it is not clear what updates are incorporated within those two sets. California State University Northridge also has the 3-volume set, as well as earlier (pre-1914) iterations of the Long Beach Sanborn atlas. The Library of Congress has digitized their 3-volume Long Beach atlas. No examples in RBH.
The Sanborn Map Company, founded in the 1860s by Daniel Alfred Sanborn, is a renowned cartographic institution primarily recognized for its unparalleled fire insurance atlases. These atlases emerged as indispensable tools during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, portraying the evolution of urban America with unprecedented detail and precision. Charting both burgeoning metropolises and smaller municipalities, Sanborn's fire insurance maps provide a unique and illuminating perspective on the physical, economic, and social transformation of the nation during a period of intense urbanization and industrialization.
During the latter half of the 19th century, the United States witnessed an acceleration in urban growth. This shift from rural to urban living, bolstered by the advent of the Industrial Revolution, generated densely populated areas with a diverse array of architectural styles, materials, and infrastructure. In this context, the need for comprehensive maps that could illustrate the specifics of the built urban fabric became paramount, especially for insurance companies seeking to assess the risks associated with insuring individual properties. The Sanborn Map Company responded to this demand, creating elaborate maps that identified building materials, the purpose of structures, and even features like fire walls and sprinkler systems.
A standout feature of Sanborn's maps was their color-coding system, which allowed for a swift and clear differentiation between building materials—whether wood, brick, iron, or otherwise. This system, paired with the company's legends -- detailing everything from the width of streets to the locations of hydrants -- made these atlases an invaluable resource for insurance underwriters. By the turn of the 20th century, Sanborn maps covered thousands of cities and towns across the United States.
Beyond their utility to the insurance industry, the atlases produced by the Sanborn Map Company have, over time, become a treasured resource for historians, urban planners, preservationists, and environmental researchers. These maps have also been pivotal in brownfield research, shedding light on past industrial activities and potential contamination sites. They offer a window into the past, capturing the architectural, infrastructural, and environmental trends of various eras, and revealing the intricacies of a city's development. The very design of streets, the evolution of residential and commercial areas, and the rise and decline of certain industries can be traced through these maps.
Around 1960, Warren Buffett, then a burgeoning value investor, took a significant position in Sanborn Map Co., sinking 35% of his partnership's money into the company. Buffett was drawn to Sanborn's extensive map business, which he described as a virtual monopoly, as well as the company's valuable investment portfolio. While the cartographic aspect of Sanborn's business was diminishing in profitability due to technological advances introduced by competitors, Buffett recognized that the informational content of the maps had not been updated to electronic access, and was thus an undervalued asset for the company. His investment in Sanborn Map Co. is often presented as Case Study No. 1 in overviews of his value-oriented investment philosophy, which emphasized undervalued assets.
In sum, the Sanborn Map Company's fire insurance atlases are not merely maps; they are intricate tapestries of American urban history, detailing the nation's progression from the late 19th to the 20th century. Through their detailed renderings, these maps continue to serve as invaluable chronicles of the United States' urban transformation during a pivotal era.