Built in 1787. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. 13 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1895.
From the record
“Laboratory, also known as the Fitch House, is a historic home and laboratory located at Salem, Washington County, New York. The house was built about 1787, and modified between about 1796 and 1812, and again about 1830.”
Wikipedia article Martin-Fitch House and Asa Fitch Jr. Laboratory, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 52 National Register listings published here for Washington County · listed in 2014 · category: Building · built in 1787.
National Register reference number. 14000290 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
Then and now
1895 to 1989
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
94 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
18951989
Fires near this property
171 since 1992
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 171 fires within 5 miles of Martin-Fitch House & Asa Fitch, Jr. Laboratory
between 1992 and 2020, burning about 216 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 13 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
78
Debris and open burning
54
Arson/incendiarism
13
Equipment and vehicle use
8
Natural
5
Misuse of fire by a minor
4
Power generation/transmission/distribution
4
Smoking
3
Recreation and ceremony
2
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
3 workings within 5 miles of Martin-Fitch House & Asa Fitch, Jr. Laboratory: 2 past producers, 1 producer.
1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Salem, the town this property stands in, in 34 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 27 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 1 flood.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
Heavy rain allowed White Creek to overflow its banks in the vicinity of the Archibald Street Bridge and Nichol Street. Nichol Street was reportedly closed due to the rising water.
A cold front crossed eastern New York during the mid morning hours of the 14th. Severe thunderstorms produced damaging winds which downed trees and wires across a few locations in Saratoga and Washington Counties.
An isolated severe thunderstorm developed along a strong cold front as it crossed into eastern New York State during the early morning hours. The wind from the storm downed tree limbs in the vicinity of Salem.
Numerous large tree branches were reported down due to strong thunderstorm winds near Salem. In addition, nickel to quarter size hail was also reported during this thunderstorm.
Nickel to quarter size hail was reported in Salem during a thunderstorm. In addition, numerous large tree branches were reported down across several roads in the vicinity due to strong thunderstorm winds.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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