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Rant: tried to find a 1970s zoning map for Rockford and Google gave me real estate listings for 40 minutes
I was at my kitchen table last Tuesday trying to find the old zoning map for Rockford, Illinois because I wanted to know what used to be on my block, and every single search just handed me Zillow pages. I tried six different ways of typing it before I remembered county clerks sometimes scan these things and stick them in weird PDF bins. Finally found it on the Winnebago County site under a folder named 'misc docs 2009' with a file name that was just a string of numbers. Anyone know a smarter way to dig up old municipal maps, or do I just have to keep guessing folder names?
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evan_morgan815d ago
The Winnebago County trick is real, I found a 1962 planning map for Peoria in a folder called "old scans do not delete" buried three levels deep on their site. What worked better for me was calling the county clerk's office directly and asking if they had a list of what's been scanned, the woman there emailed me an index spreadsheet in like ten minutes. Also check the local public library's digital collections, a lot of them put old Sanborn fire maps and zoning docs online through something called Illinois Digital Archives. The Sanborn maps won't show zoning but they show what buildings were actually there going back to the 1880s, which might answer your question about your block anyway. One more thing, the city planning department itself sometimes keeps old maps in binders that never got scanned, so it's worth an email or a walk-in if you're local.
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