Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Local Coryell County historian, Sherry Lawrence, recently presented a program to the Coryell County Genealogical Society about the Sanborn Map Company which was founded in 1867.
According to Lawrence, the maps were intended for use by fire insurance companies and showed details of buildings, fire safety features such as construction materials, types of businesses, and entrances.
Lawrence said that these maps are often used by historical societies for restoration purposes and are also used by genealogists who may have had family members who were business owners. Unfortunately, Gatesville is the only Coryell County town with maps in the online collection.
“The Gatesville series has maps for 1885, 1891, 1896, 1902, 1907, 1912, and 1920,” Lawrence said. “This covers a large number of the buildings currently around the public square and allows us to see the changes in the use of these familiar buildings,” she said.
The earliest map for Gatesville is 1885, which shows the courthouse, the Faunt Le Roy home, saloons, the Atkinson Hotel, the Saunders Bank, the Opera House, a soda bottling plant, a roller-skating rink, the Baptist Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, a calaboose (jail), the Knights of Pythias Hall, and the Chandler Flour Mill.
Lawrence stated that the maps were often color coded to indicate what type of building material they were constructed from. Yellow, meaning a frame (wooden) structure; red, meaning brick; blue, meaning stone; brown, meaning adobe; and green, meaning special.
The Sanborn Map Company, which is still in existence to this day, has provided invaluable sources for those involved in historical research and can be included in the history of Gatesville as well.
