Washington, D.C., History Resources

The UMCP Special Collections and Archives has more than 2,500 maps of Maryland and the Chesapeake region, including Sanborn Maps that show in detail the buildings of many of the cities and towns throughout the state, maps from county and state agencies, and nineteenth century land ownership maps that are available in microfiche format in the Maryland Room at Hornbake Library. Selected maps are digitized.

The Library of Congress has the most accessible and comprehensive collection of maps of the District of Columbia. Its collections have been culled from government publications and other sources. These include maps that show the L'Enfant Plan, the development of transportation, topographic maps showing the natural environment, and maps that show the buildings in detail. The Library has also digitized most of its maps, offering users the opportunity to examine maps in granular detail.

A digital collection of maps held by the District of Columbia Public Library that is searchable by subject. The collection includes maps of city wards, census tracts, and real estate.

Designed for real estate agents, plat maps show the distribution of lots throughout the city, the dimensions of buildings and lots, and old subdivision names. These indexed volumes were published by Hopkins (1877-1913) and Baist (1903-1917). They can be used to research individual houses and study changes in neighborhood residential patterns over time.

Designed for real estate agents, plat maps show the distribution of lots throughout the city, the dimensions of buildings and lots, and old subdivision names. These indexed volumes were published by Baist. They can be used to research individual houses and changes in neighborhood residential patterns over time.

These maps provide detailed information about every building structure in Washington, D.C., including its building composition and its function as a residence or business. Created by Sanborn Map Company, these maps were used by insurance companies to calculate the value of buildings. They are valuable sources documenting living conditions over time.

Map of Washington City that shows architectural development, including the names of businesses, communal institutions, and well-known residences.

Partial cadastral map that shows buildings, householders' names, and vegetation of Washington City, Georgetown, and Washington County.

A partial cadastral map that shows architectural development, street plan, and landowners' names in rural areas.

Map that shows the block numbers. This street system was replaced with the current one in 1895, when Georgetown was formally integrated into Washington.

Drawn shortly after the implementation of the quadrant system, this map shows ward and block numbers, streetcar lines, and major landmarks.

The L'Enfant Plan with street plan, including squares and circles, of Washington City.

A map illustrating the central position of Alexandria in the defense of Washington.

An interactive map that allows researchers to select the base map, landmarks, and geological features that can be viewed to better understand Civil War Washington.

This GIS map of extant buildings in the District of Columbia is designed to illustrate the history of architectural development in the District of Columbia. Researchers can search by street address or hover over a specific building and find information such as building name, square number, builder, the date built gleaned from building permits, deeds, and newspaper items. The site also makes available supporting documentation for buildings that have landmark status. The "DC by the Decade" helps visualize the city's development over the decades.

Using a base map of Maryland drawn by J.H. Colton in 1855, the curators of the Legacy of Slavery Project have created a site that enables researchers to zoom in on each county of Maryland to see post office boxes, names of waterways and other geographic landmarks, and the property owners identified on the map. It is possible to search the map using any of the terms that appear on the map (for instance, Claggett, Beall, Carroll). The map includes an inset of the District of Columbia.

This map overlays the streams, shorelines, marshes, and canals from an 1861 map drawn by A. Boschke to illustrate the differences between the changing hydrologic landscape of Washington, D.C. David Ramos, who teaches graphic design at American University, developed this map presented with source information.

This map presents thousands of historic images created by John P. Wymer between 1948 and 1952 in geospatial context, overlaying them with Google Maps and Street View so that visitors can easily visualize the changes between then and now. Wymer had systematically photographed streets throughout the city at a particularly significant juncture in its development: before the end of segregation and the subsequent white flight.