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The Most Detailed Mapping of Long Beach's Built Environment Over the First Half of the 20th-CenturyThe present massive 3-volume Long Beach Sanborn fire insurance atlas, containing approximately 241 map sheets,&. Large folio. 3 volumes. Approximately 241 map sheets. Original thick tan cloth bindings, leather corners, red leather labels to front covers, with remnants of leather spine labels (mostly chipped away except on vol. 2). Most of the leather thumb tabs still intact. Bindings worn, with some staining. Vol. 1 with occasional staining and some insect damage (to lower margin of several map sheets toward back of volume). Vol. 3 with significant foxing and soiling. Else overall condition of the maps is quite good. Ownership stamp: Aetna Insurance Co. Vol 1: Title page, index, key map, 1-99, 99A maps [sheet 29 blank, 30-31 skipped, 41 blank, 42-45 skipped, 53 blank, 54-59 skipped, but likely not issued as the blank and skipped numbers are not on key map]. Vol. 2: Title page, index, double-sheet key map, 201-299, 299A-299E. Vol. 3: double-sheet key map plus 301-362 maps [sheet 323 blank, nos. 332-337 and 346-351 skipped in numbering, but these maps likely not issued as they do not appear on key map]. The Most Detailed Mapping of Long Beach's Built Environment Over the First Half of the 20th-CenturyThe 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 BeachAfter 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 e.
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