1890 Fire Insurance Plan (revised to 1898)

Usually drawn in either multiples or fractions of 100-foot units, a fire insurance plan is a map or set of maps of a community showing in detail by means of colour and symbol the character of the exterior and interior construction of buildings as well as their height and occupancy. Also indicated are street widths, street numbers, property lines and such fire protection facilities as water pipes or mains, fire hydrants and fire alarm boxes. This highly specialized cartographic product grew out of the need of fire insurance underwriters to understand the physical characteristics of a structure to be insured and the spatial concentration of policy holders so as to limit a company’s losses in the event of a conflagration.

As seen in this 1890 Fire Insurance Plan, the Lake Erie, Essex and Detroit River Railway (LEE&DRR) came through Kingsville midway between the business part of the village and the harbor which turned out to be Stewart Street, where it crossed Division Street South. The LEE&DRR was incorporated by Hiram Walker (of Walkerville) in 1885 and the Kingsville line was completed in 1889.

1903 Fire Insurance Plan (revised to 1906)

Also completed in 1889 was the Kingsville Railway Station, east of Division Street South. The location of the station encouraged further development in the surrounding area including Darius Wigle’s tobacco factory, George Henry’s grain warehouse, Conklin’s Planing Mills and Imperial Canning Company.

_{1890 Fire Insurance Plan courtesy of www.collectionscanada.gc.ca}

_{Info on Fire Insurance Plans: http://www.lib.uwo.ca/archives/virtualexhibits/fireinsuranceplan/Introduction/intro.html}

_{1903 Fire Insurance Plan courtesy of University of Western Ontario Archives}

© 2012, KMHAC. All rights reserved.

On republishing this post you must provide link to original post.