Fire Insurance Plans

Fire insurance plans are one of the most interesting and useful resources for exploring urban built heritage. These plans, created for insurance purposes, show the size and shape of buildings, and use a colour-coded system to identify the construction materials used in each structure; street addresses are identified as well. Although some plans for Nova Scotia communities date from the 1870s, most were published in the years between 1888 and 1972.

The Nova Scotia Archives holds a large collection of these plans, for the following cities and towns:

Acadia Mines (Londonderry), 1914
Amherst, 1904, 1910, 1914, 1918 (revised 1931, 1940, 1947), 1959
Annapolis Royal, 1906, 1951
Antigonish, 1904, 1955
Arichat, 1904, 1924
Baddeck, 1940, 1959
Bear River, 1897, 1940
Bedford, 1952
Berwick, 1922 (revised 1936, 1938)
Bible Hill (Truro), 1921, 1931 (revised 1947)
Bridgetown, 1906, 1962
Bridgewater, 1906, 1924 (revised 1936), 1955
Brooklyn, Queens Co., 1938, 1940
Canning, 1922 (revised 1940)
Canso, 1904, 1922
Charlton, 1941
Chester, 1924 (revised 1941)
Clark's Harbour, 1906 (revised 1924), 1940
Dartmouth, 1889 (revised 1899), 1906 (revised 1914, 1920), 1934, 1961 (revised 1973)
Digby, 1934 (revised 1938), 1951
Ferrona, Pictou Co., 1894 (revised 1904)
Florence, 1942
Glace Bay, 1914 (reprinted 1917), 1959
Granville Ferry, 1906, 1951
Greenwich, 1944
Greenwood, 1951
Guysborough, 1904 (revised 1940)
Halifax, 1878, 1877 (revised 1889), 1895 (revised 1899, 1911), 1911, 1914 (revised 1939, 1951), 1967, 1971
Underwriters’ Survey Board, Insurance plan of the city of Halifax, 1957 [G 1129/ S98/ U53/ 1957]
Hantsport, 1897, 1964
Inverness, 1904, 1924 (revised 1940), 1948, 1959
Kentville, 1900, 1951
Kingston, 1951
Knautpoint (see Lunenburg), 1959
Lawrencetown, 1897, 1951
Liverpool, 1914, 1931, 1941 (revised 1947), 1955
Lockeport, 1906
Londonderry, 1914
Louisbourg, 1926 (revised 1944), 1952
Lunenburg, 1884 (revised 1888), 1893 (revised 1897), 1906, 1939, 1959
Mabou, 1904, 1926
Mahone Bay, 1906, 1962
Meteghan, 1906 (revised 1910)
Middleton, 1897, 1914, 1962
Milton, Queens Co., 1906, 1922 (revised 1940)
Mulgrave, 1904, 1926 (revised 1941)
New Glasgow, 1910, 1914, 1920 (revised 1927, 1935), 1941 (revised 1947), 1955
New Minas, 1951
New Waterford, 1914, 1952
North Sydney, 1914, 1928 (revised 1944, 1947), 1944, 1957
Oxford, 1897, 1914
Parrsboro, 1914
Pictou, 1914, 1952 (revised 1963, 1969)
Port Hastings, 1926
Port Hawkesbury, 1922 (revised 1941), 1972
Port Hood, 1904, 1926
Port Maitland, 1905, 1941
Port Williams, 1934 (revised 1938, 1944)
Pugwash, 1904, 1941
Riverport (see Lunenburg), 1959
St. Peter's, 1904, 1926 (revised 1941)
Shelburne, 1893 (revised 1910), 1962
Shubenacadie, 1904, 1941 (revised 1947)
Springhill, 1904, 1955
Stellarton, 1904, 1911, 1962
Sydney, 1907 (revised 1936), 1914, 1957 (revised 1969)
Insurance plan for the city of Sydney, N.S., 1957 [G 1129/ S98/ U53/ 1957]
Sydney Mines, 1904, 1917, 1958
Sydney River, 1969
Tatamagouche, 1897 (revised 1900)
Trenton, 1962
Truro, 1888 (revised 1897), 1904 (revised 1910), 1914, 1921, 1931 (revised 1947), 1955 (revised 1966)
Insurance plan of the town of Truro, N.S., 1957 [G 1129/ S98/ U53/ 1957]
Westville, 1962
Weymouth, 1927 (revised 1944)
Weymouth Bridge, 1906
Windsor, 1899 (revised 1900), 1914, 1959
Wolfville, 1897, 1938, 1962
Woodside, Halifax Co., 1927 (revised 1947)
Yarmouth, 1891 (revised 1900), 1906, 1914 (revised 1921), 1915 (revised 1927), 1938 (revised 1947), 1955