Historical Lucas tax maps placed on county Web site

2/10/2006

Historical maps of Lucas County are available on the county's Web site, offering residents an opportunity to see the original tax maps created years ago.

Scanned images of the ink drawings, originally created on linen, are available at www.co.lucas.oh.us, through an icon on the right-hand side of the site labeled Archived Tax Map Viewer. To pull up a specific parcel, residents must search for the address on the county auditor's AREIS system to get the eight-digit assessor number.

The county auditor's real-estate division converted all the tax maps into electronic versions in 1996. Maintenance of the hand-drawn maps, which had been photographed onto a heavy plastic, was continued until January, 2001, when the 2,200 digital maps became the official record.

Now the old scanned images are available for historical perspective, said Jerry German, director of the auditor's real estate division.

The historical maps can show original subdivision names, property lines, and areas prior to development.