Enter a name, company, place or keywords to search across this item. Then click "Search" (or hit Enter).
This Map of Nevada City, based on an 1869 survey, is a parcel map of the kind used by assessors and local governments for the purpose of identifying locations of surveyed properties and their owners. As a map of Nevada City, an incorporated municipality in Nevada Township, it shows the roughly one square mile of the town, embracing about 644 acres. The NE, SE, SW, and NW corners of the city are marked with granite stones.
The 1869 map was authorized by the Board of Trustees of Nevada City. However, H. S. [Henry Sewall] Bradley (c1825-1881), the surveyor, was the official surveyor for Nevada County. The 1932 revised edition is attributed to Edw. C. [Edward Clement] Uren, M.E. [mining engineer] (1873-1961), who most likely oversaw the revision in his capacity as Nevada City's city engineer. Uren's father and namesake, Edward Clement Uren (1827-1899), was for many years a surveyor for Placer County.
The available pdf copy of the 1869 edition of the map appears to descend from a scan of a copy of the original 1869 edition. Above the printed title of the scanned map is "Copy" in someone's hand -- signifying that the image in scan is not that of the original map.
The legibility of the 1869 edition is generally poor, while that of the 1932 edition is generally good. The surveyor's description of the city boundaries, illegible on the 1869 map, has been clearly reprinted in a different hand on the 1932 edition. The 1869 edition, but not the 1932 edition, shows that the original map was filed with Nevada County County Clerk G. [George] K. Farquhar [1835-1884] on "September [9th?], A.D. 1869".
The 1932 edition, based as it is on the 1869 edition, continues to show the owners as named on the 1869 map, rather than the owners as of 1932. However, the 1932 edition has been revised to reflect contemporary geographical conditions, including streets. The lettering on the 1869 edition has been re-lettered in the 1932 edition.
Uren notes on the 1932 edition of the 1869 Map of Nevada City that "This map is reduced [to a scale of 150 feet to the inch] from the original 80 scale mounted map made by H S Bradley in 1869. The railroad and new streets have been added from surveys made by myself." The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Rairoad was completed in 1876.
The 1869 map shows that Lot 10 of Block 13, which fronted both Broad and Main, was owned by J. A. [John Albert] Lancaster (1827-1873), a hotel keeper and livery stable proprietor. By 1932, about two thirds of the Lot 10, along the southeast boundary, had become Union Street. The street was created by Ordinance 68, passed on 16 October 1879 -- a decade after the 1869 survey map was filed. Regarded as too steep for planking, it was graded and graveled.
Note that the alignments of Union street and lower Main street in 1932 are different from their present alignments -- mostly made to accommodate the construction of the Golden Center Freeway in the late 1960s. The freeway wiped out lower Broad street, and left only Ott's Assay Office the South Yuba Canal Building on the sliver of lower Main that survived the bulldozers.
Each parcel on the Map of Nevada City is identified by a lot number within a numbered block. The 1869 edition shows only lot numbers, owner names, and frontages in feet. The 1932 revised edition shows also areas in acreage, and sometimes the depths an other lot measurements in feet.
Lots are sequentially numbered 1, 2, 3, and so on along the streets or other geographical features that define a block. Where the sequence begins on a block, and whether it progresses clockwise or counter-clockwise, depends on the block. Most parcels front on the streets that define a block. But parcels are defined by only their block and lot numbers -- not by the numbered street addresses assigned the buildings on a parcel by the city.
Block 13 -- bounded by Broad, Main, Commercial, and Pine streets -- is numbered counter clockwise from the SW corner of the block at the intersection of Broad and Pine (the NE corner of the intersection). So numbering proceeds from Lot 1 at Pine down the north side of Broad, to the Broad Street bridge off the Plaza, then up west side of Main after crossing the Main street bridge from the Plaza, then up the south side of Commercial and down the east side of Pine to Lot 45, which is immediately north of Lot 1, which was owned by Kidd of latterday Kidd and Knox Building fame.
Block 5 -- bounded by Main, Washington, High, and Nevada streets -- is numbered clockwise. Main begins off the Main street bridge over Deer Creek coming from the Plaza. At the head of Main, immediately to the right, is the start of Nevada street and Block 4. On the left of Main from its head off the bridge is Block 13. On the right of Main, after crossing Nevada, is Block 5, which is numbered clockwise from its SW corner at the junction of Nevada with Main (the NE corner at the junction). Up the right (east) side of Main is Lot 7, then owned by J. J. Ott and the site of his assay office. Immediately north, at the corner of Main and Coyote, is Lot 8, owned by Whartenby of the South Yuba Canal Company.
The 1869 and 1932 editions of Map of Nevada City are essential aids for researchers working with Nevada County assessor office records and the 1885, 1891, 1898, and 1912 Sanborn & Perris fire insurance maps for Nevada City.
The 1869 map was authorized by the Board of Trustees of Nevada City. However, H. S. [Henry Sewall] Bradley (c1825-1881), the surveyor, was the official surveyor for Nevada County. The 1932 revised edition is attributed to Edw. C. [Edward Clement] Uren, M.E. [mining engineer] (1873-1961), who most likely oversaw the revision in his capacity as Nevada City's city engineer. Uren's father and namesake, Edward Clement Uren (1827-1899), was for many years a surveyor for Placer County.
The available pdf copy of the 1869 edition of the map appears to descend from a scan of a copy of the original 1869 edition. Above the printed title of the scanned map is "Copy" in someone's hand -- signifying that the image in scan is not that of the original map.
The legibility of the 1869 edition is generally poor, while that of the 1932 edition is generally good. The surveyor's description of the city boundaries, illegible on the 1869 map, has been clearly reprinted in a different hand on the 1932 edition. The 1869 edition, but not the 1932 edition, shows that the original map was filed with Nevada County County Clerk G. [George] K. Farquhar [1835-1884] on "September [9th?], A.D. 1869".
The 1932 edition, based as it is on the 1869 edition, continues to show the owners as named on the 1869 map, rather than the owners as of 1932. However, the 1932 edition has been revised to reflect contemporary geographical conditions, including streets. The lettering on the 1869 edition has been re-lettered in the 1932 edition.
Uren notes on the 1932 edition of the 1869 Map of Nevada City that "This map is reduced [to a scale of 150 feet to the inch] from the original 80 scale mounted map made by H S Bradley in 1869. The railroad and new streets have been added from surveys made by myself." The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Rairoad was completed in 1876.
The 1869 map shows that Lot 10 of Block 13, which fronted both Broad and Main, was owned by J. A. [John Albert] Lancaster (1827-1873), a hotel keeper and livery stable proprietor. By 1932, about two thirds of the Lot 10, along the southeast boundary, had become Union Street. The street was created by Ordinance 68, passed on 16 October 1879 -- a decade after the 1869 survey map was filed. Regarded as too steep for planking, it was graded and graveled.
Note that the alignments of Union street and lower Main street in 1932 are different from their present alignments -- mostly made to accommodate the construction of the Golden Center Freeway in the late 1960s. The freeway wiped out lower Broad street, and left only Ott's Assay Office the South Yuba Canal Building on the sliver of lower Main that survived the bulldozers.
Each parcel on the Map of Nevada City is identified by a lot number within a numbered block. The 1869 edition shows only lot numbers, owner names, and frontages in feet. The 1932 revised edition shows also areas in acreage, and sometimes the depths an other lot measurements in feet.
Lots are sequentially numbered 1, 2, 3, and so on along the streets or other geographical features that define a block. Where the sequence begins on a block, and whether it progresses clockwise or counter-clockwise, depends on the block. Most parcels front on the streets that define a block. But parcels are defined by only their block and lot numbers -- not by the numbered street addresses assigned the buildings on a parcel by the city.
Block 13 -- bounded by Broad, Main, Commercial, and Pine streets -- is numbered counter clockwise from the SW corner of the block at the intersection of Broad and Pine (the NE corner of the intersection). So numbering proceeds from Lot 1 at Pine down the north side of Broad, to the Broad Street bridge off the Plaza, then up west side of Main after crossing the Main street bridge from the Plaza, then up the south side of Commercial and down the east side of Pine to Lot 45, which is immediately north of Lot 1, which was owned by Kidd of latterday Kidd and Knox Building fame.
Block 5 -- bounded by Main, Washington, High, and Nevada streets -- is numbered clockwise. Main begins off the Main street bridge over Deer Creek coming from the Plaza. At the head of Main, immediately to the right, is the start of Nevada street and Block 4. On the left of Main from its head off the bridge is Block 13. On the right of Main, after crossing Nevada, is Block 5, which is numbered clockwise from its SW corner at the junction of Nevada with Main (the NE corner at the junction). Up the right (east) side of Main is Lot 7, then owned by J. J. Ott and the site of his assay office. Immediately north, at the corner of Main and Coyote, is Lot 8, owned by Whartenby of the South Yuba Canal Company.
The 1869 and 1932 editions of Map of Nevada City are essential aids for researchers working with Nevada County assessor office records and the 1885, 1891, 1898, and 1912 Sanborn & Perris fire insurance maps for Nevada City.
Author: H. S. Bradley
Publisher: Authorized by Nevada City Board of Trustees
Published: 1869
Subjects: Assessor Map, Parcels, Blocks, Lots, Nevada City, 1869, H. S. Bradley
Related Items:
Publisher: Authorized by Nevada City Board of Trustees
Published: 1869
Subjects: Assessor Map, Parcels, Blocks, Lots, Nevada City, 1869, H. S. Bradley
Related Items:
- Map of Nevada City 1869-1932 (H.S Bradley & E.C. Uren)(1932 (1869))
- Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps > Nevada City (1885)
Go to the Archive Home
Go to Thumbnail View of this Item
Go to Single Page View of this Item
Zoom Out
Zoom In (Please allow time for high-res images to load)
Zoom: 100%
