CH Champion House Belleville, Illinois

Champion House / What Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Told Me About Our Front Porch

What Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Told Me About Our Front Porch

I used the 1884 and 1889 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps to investigate whether Champion House’s small front porch was original. The later map showed the porch was not there, but I decided to keep it.

October 23, 2026

Champion House is in a historic district. Before making changes to the front or sides of the house that are visible from the street, I have to get approval from the local governing board. The review considers whether a change would alter a visible historic feature that was present when the house was built.

I went to a few board meetings to learn how the process works. The board recommended looking at the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for clues about the house’s earlier appearance.

The 1884 map did not show a house outline at Champion House’s location. The red star on this cropped map marks where the house stands today.

1884 Sanborn map. The red star marks Champion House’s location; no house outline is shown there.
1884 Sanborn map. The red star marks Champion House’s location; no house outline is shown there.

The November 1889 map showed a house at this location. Champion House is the building in the lower-left corner of the crop, and its outline shows no porch.

November 1889 Sanborn map. Champion House is the house at lower left; no porch appears in its outline.
November 1889 Sanborn map. Champion House is the house at lower left; no porch appears in its outline.

That corrected my first assumption. The porch was not original. Even so, after learning more about it and thinking about the house as it stands today, I decided not to remove it. The maps answered my question, and I chose to keep the porch.