I’ve just discovered a huge cache of old fire insurance maps from 1876, capturing St. Louis only a decade after the Civil War. The Oliver and Whipple Maps, similar to the more famous Sanborn fire insurance maps, show the physical make-up of the city and a particular place and time, with additions of course. This legend should aid the reader when I use these maps in the future.
12/26/2012, 08:49 am
Are these available online? Do they cover any of the county as well?
12/26/2012, 08:53 am
Yes, but be prepared to be frustrated:
http://digital.wustl.edu/w/whi/browse.html
It is only the city of St. Louis, and a fairly strict definition of that from 1876. Sparsely settled outskirts are not mapped.