Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Mandeville Building Maps 1904

One of the best resources for historical researchers are the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of the early 1900's. The maps were made to help insurance companies assess fire risk associated with various buildings. Different colors were used to denote different types of construction, and some of the buildings were marked indicating their names and uses.

Here are the lakefront area Sanborn Maps for Mandeville in the year 1904. The street named Clayborne is the same as the street spelled Claiborne today. Click on the images to make them appear larger. 


Above is the lake area Sanborn map for Mandeville in 1904, spanning the blocks between Coffee and Lafitte. Lake Pontchartrain is at the bottom. On the lake just west of Coffee St., near where the drainage canal is currently located, was the Lake View Hotel. Behind the hotel, half a block up on the west side of Carroll was a "Lodge Room" building. All of the buildings that are yellow are "wood frame" buildings.


Above is another Sanborn map of the lake area in 1904, this map spanning the blocks between Lafitte St. and just east of Girod St. Lake Pontchartrain is again at the bottom. There is a General Store on the southwest corner of the Clayborne and Lafitte Street intersection. Click on the image to make it appear larger. 

Down at the lakefront, there is a drug store on the lake just west of Lafitte Street. The drug store is on the east side of a building that looks like another hotel. Across Lafitte Street on the east side, also on the lake, is Mugnier's Hotel. Next to that is a "casino," which was probably the old Bechac's Restaurant building. On the west side of the Girod St. and Lake St. intersection is a building labeled "Grocery" and on the east side of Girod is a building marked "Vac." It is currently the location of "Don'z on the Lake" Bar. It is shown with the color red, which indicates it was a brick building, while the rest of the structures are yellow, indicating they were wood frame structures. 



The map above shows the buildings in the area of the intersection of Clayborne and Carroll Streets in 1904. At the top left is the Post Office (P.O.), and across the street from that is the Presbyterian Church (which is still in the same location today). 

In the southeast quadrant of the intersection is a General Store. Across Clayborne Street from there is a frame building marked "Vac" which could stand for vacant. These maps were downloaded from the Library of Congress Historical Maps website. 

To view the maps from the year 1909, CLICK HERE.