Old Insurance Maps – Georeferencing Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps on Modern Maps

History nerds just found their new obsession: a crowdsourced site that snaps century-old Sanborn Fire Insurance maps onto today’s streets, turning your city into a clickable time machine. The community went full detective mode, swooning over how these maps show room layouts, building materials, and even whether a night watchman was hired. One fan dropped a San Francisco viewer link like a mic on the table, and everyone nodded, “Okay, this is legit.”

Then the plot twist. The site’s creator popped in like a backstage pass holder—“I developed and maintain this site,” he said—while staring at the server status screen as traffic spiked. Drama escalated when users started hitting a big, fat “Unauthorized” message, prompting cries of “Is history gated now?” Meanwhile, a DIY historian flexed a personal project mapping a 1916 fire in their hometown, admitting this tool would’ve saved hours, and shared their own link at fire.gorch.co. The comment section split between cheering the crowdsourced mission (universities and locals pitching in) and clowning on login issues. Memes flew about “night watchman” being the OG Ring doorbell, while others begged for clearer access. Verdict: it’s a dazzling map time machine with a side of server sweat and access angst—aka peak internet.