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County GIS often states house built in 1900, not older...

k2gleaner

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Jan 27, 2019
Messages
519
Location
NC
I often check out county GIS/tax maps to see who owns what. It seems that the records often state when a house was built but I rarely (maybe never) see it listed as older than 1900. My homes was built in 1930 and it lists it as such.

Why do they limit it to 1900? Maybe original records were lost in fire? It seems that often town halls have burned at least once in their history in these old towns...
 
I often check out county GIS/tax maps to see who owns what. It seems that the records often state when a house was built but I rarely (maybe never) see it listed as older than 1900. My homes was built in 1930 and it lists it as such.

Why do they limit it to 1900? Maybe original records were lost in fire? It seems that often town halls have burned at least once in their history in these old towns...

This is why I use old census maps. not sure why current info is so often wrong, but like you said it seems it is often enough to be a problem.
 
Same thing for Tennessee. The dates only go back to 1900 and if it shows a date of 1900 that is likely a home that is older than 1900.
 
Town Hall?


k2gleaner

not sure about your area but in mine there is one on historicmapworks.com then I was able to trace an earlier one through One of the historical societies in a town from my county. town halls across your county would be a good place to check alongside the historical societies, and any libraries may have as well.
 
even then the census map only says what was there at the year they took the census. so it won't give build dates, but it helps narrow things down.
 
Try old county atlases. Check the local history section of the local library.
I've been pretty disappointed in the local library. The curator of that local historical reference section claims they don't have any old maps. However, I did find some good reference books and genealogical information.
I should add that town hall told me to go to the library.

k2gleaner
 
I would add that it is common across a dozen or more counties that I look at to find that houses are listed as being built in 1900 but nothing older.

I can't say for sure that nothing is listed as older, but I'm struck with how many times the number 1900 appears.

A real building book that year!

k2gleaner
 
It is the same way here in Oregon. There will be a few here and there that say they were built before 1900, but most say 1900. Now it changes when I start checking the State Historic Preservation Office records. Those will have exact build dates and usually vintage photos.
 
It is the same way here in Oregon. There will be a few here and there that say they were built before 1900, but most say 1900. Now it changes when I start checking the State Historic Preservation Office records. Those will have exact build dates and usually vintage photos.

Interesting. Thanks.

Thanks to all who replied.

k2gleaner
 
It seems that 1900 is a default date in many cities. Why? Could be that when they put their GIS systems together, they couldn't find accurate data due to lost or conflicting records and it wasnt worth the effort to rectify things so they went with a generic answer for anything suspected to be pre-1900. I've seen it that way in many locations.
 
The GIS info in my area is not limited like that fortunately. I am surprised how old some structures actually are, although they don't look it due to being upgraded thru the years. I use our GIS maps almost daily.
 
I use our GIS maps almost daily.

Same here, but for the most part, I can tell the relative age of the house. In fact, it could even be a modestly old house built on the side of an older one.

Most of the places I hunt, are where houses used to stand. My question was merely because that's what I was seeing when I looked at the tax maps.



k2gleaner
 
Guys. I just realized something. Have you heard of julian days? From wiki:

"Julian day is the continuous count of days since the beginning of the Julian Period and is used primarily by astronomers, and in software for easily calculating elapsed days between two events."

Well, I think the Julian period started 1/1/1900...

k2gleaner
 
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