Hst 494: Historic Portland Maps: Sanborn Maps

For this class, it is recommended that students use Multnomah County Library's online Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970 collection. All PSU students can create a free MCL account, even if they do not live in Portland. Just sign up using your @pdx.edu email.

1) Begin by logging into the Digital Sanborn Maps

2) Select Oregon, Portland, and the appropriate date. In this case, you'll want to start with 1924-1928.

3) When logged in, the interface defaults to scroll view.

4) Select gallery view. Use the "Key" page to determine which maps to use for your project.

5) The key sheet includes a map that indicates the appropriate volume. For this class, you'll want Volumes 4 and 5.

6) Once finding the correct volume (in this case, Vol. 5, which is everything south of Ainsworth), look at the large map. Zoom into to the block/area of interest:

7) Zoom in. You'll see two numbers. The bold three digit number is the sheet number, and the four digit number is the block number.

7) In our case, I'm interested in block 2362, sheet 511. This is the block immediately south of the future park.

8) Zoom in to see what structures were in this area.

Final note:

You may need to look in multiple volumes because Ainsworth is a dividing line. In the 1924 Sanborn maps, for example, you'll need to look in Volumes 4 & 5.