BlockBefore
Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Amherst Center, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Amherst Town City. It lies in ZIP code area 01002. It stands on Hop Brook. The Survey maps it on the Mount Toby quadrangle.

Amherst Center within Hampshire County

Then and now

1885 to 1990

The same ground, surveyed 105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Amherst Center, surveyed 1990
Topographic sheet of Amherst Center, surveyed 1885

Compare 1885 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

42 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires nearby

59 since 2002

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 59 fires within 5 miles of Amherst Center between 2002 and 2020, burning about 53 acres in total. 3 started naturally. None was 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/undetermined30
Recreation and ceremony9
Debris and open burning8
Equipment and vehicle use8
Natural3
Railroad operations and maintenance1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
29 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
28 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 July 2004Naturalunder an acreMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
23 July 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 July 2016Natural5.3 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 July 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
14 July 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
29 June 2002Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hampshire County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 10,184 shown

Museums hold 10,184 specimens collected within 10 miles of Amherst Center between 1781 and 1975: 4,232 Animalia, 3,538 Plantae, 2,189 Fungi, 132 Chromista, 80 Protozoa, 12 Unrecorded, 1 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A V Osmun, A. Albee, A. Allen and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Cercospora violae Sacc.Cercospora violae Sacc.1895Ralph E. SmithHothouse, Mass. Agr. College, Amherst
Specimen of Actias luna Linnaeus, 1758Actias luna Linnaeus, 17581896not recorded
Specimen of Plathemis lydia (Drury, 1773)Plathemis lydia (Drury, 1773)1896not recorded
A photograph of the species Carex argyrantha, not of this specimenCarex argyrantha Tuck. ex Dewey1781H. G. JesupAmherst in Hampshire Co., and Leverett in Franklin Co., Massachusetts. [Inferred counties from precise loc.]
A photograph of the species Carex foenea, not of this specimenCarex foenea Willd.1781H. G. JesupAnd Leverett
A photograph of the species Ustilago nuda, not of this specimenUstilago nuda (C.N.Jensen) Kellerm. & Swingle1810J.E. Humphrey
A photograph of the species Ranunculus ambigens, not of this specimenRanunculus ambigens S.Watson1831S. Shurtleff
A photograph of the species Kalmia angustifolia, not of this specimenKalmia angustifolia f. angustifolia1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Kalmia latifolia, not of this specimenKalmia latifolia var. latifolia1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Pogonia ophioglossoides, not of this specimenPogonia ophioglossoides (L.) Ker Gawl.1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Dactylis glomerata, not of this specimenDactylis glomerata L.1839S J Ewer
A photograph of the species Solidago arguta, not of this specimenSolidago arguta Aiton1841Collector(s): Henry Holmes Babcock, Henry Griswold JesupAmherst

All 10,184 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 15 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Amherst Center: 6 producers, 6 past producers, 2 unknowns, 1 occurrence. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Brick Clay, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Leverett Barite ProspectBarium-Barite, Lead, Zinc, CopperOccurrenceReplacement Vein
Pelham QuarryAsbestos, EmeryPast Producer
Amherst Plant No. 5Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Amherst Quarry Plant#5Stone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Clay PitBrick ClayProducerClay
Clay PitBrick ClayProducerClay
Clay PitClayPast Producer
Clay PitClayPast Producer
Blakeslee-Arpaia-Chapman S&G CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
D D Ruxton Co IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Hampshire County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Amherst0.4 miles42
East Village1.2 miles35
Mill Valley1.4 miles44
Plainville1.6 miles42
North Amherst2.5 miles42
South Amherst2.5 miles44
West Pelham2.6 miles35
Cushman2.7 miles42

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1852796. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

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.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

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.