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Auburn, Massachusetts

44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Auburn town. It lies in ZIP code area 01501. It stands on Dark Brook. The Survey maps it on the Worcester South quadrangle.

Auburn within Worcester County

Then and now

1889 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Auburn, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Auburn, surveyed 1889

On record in Auburn

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 3 records

Surveyed buildings and structures 1 record

Businesses named in the fire insurance atlases 3 records

Topographic sheets covering this place

20 surveys from 44 printed 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.

In the county-history sources

5,419 words on this township

History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Auburn Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

ToPOORAPHirAi,. - Auburn lies on the map an irregular pentagon in form, its eastern boundary and base line touching Millbury, with Worcester on the north, Leicester on the west and Oxford on the south. Its area covers about 10,000 acres, with a diameter of five miles in its extreme length. The centre, or the Congregational Church, lies five miles distant south by west from Worcester City Hall. The Norwich and Worcester Railroad threads the eastern side of the town, with depots at Auburn and Stone's Crossing ; the Boston and Albany Railroad runs through the western part. It has no station, but Jamesville and Rochdale depots are respectively within a half-mile and a mile of the town line. In 1885 the Webster Branch was opened, whose junction with the Albany road is in Auburn. This branch has a station at West Auburn. Thus railroad facilities are good.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.

The surface is hilly, though without very high summits. The water-courses, trending northerly and easterly, join their channels to make the southern branch of the Blackstone River. These brooks and ponds are frequented by anglers, and three water privileges serve manufacturing uses and have for nearly a century. Pakachoag Hill extends two miles in the easterly part of Auburn, passing into Worcester, where it is crowned by the College of the Holy

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.

Cross. From its broad plateau one gets a fine view of Stoneville, Leicester steeples on the western horizon, Millbury, Grafton and Shrewsbury, Mt. Asnebumskitand blue Wachusett. Grassy Hill bordersou West Millbury, Prospect Hill stretches from West Auburn across the Oxford line. Growl and Beer's Hills rise in the northwest corner. We find our Auburn not the "loveliest village of the plain." The population is fairly distributed, the factory precinct of Stoneville being the more thickly built up. Pondville lies east of the centre. The inhabitants generally are farmers whose great barns show the tons of hay produced and the quantity of stock raised. Towns adjacent have a larger territory and population, and, with the exception of Millbury, a more ancient record. Our history narrates the origin, the doings and the present condition of an average New England rural community.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Auburn Town - it names this place 6 more 6 times.

Photographs

1 photograph,

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Thaddeus Chapin House, Auburn, Worcester County, MA
Thaddeus Chapin House, Auburn, Worcester County, MA
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

73 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 73 fires within 5 miles of Auburn between 2015 and 2020, burning about 57 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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
Debris and open burning25
Recreation and ceremony16
Smoking11
Missing data/not specified/undetermined10
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Arson/incendiarism3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Other causes1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
8 September 2015Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
14 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
26 August 2020Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
13 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Worcester County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 1,555 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,555 specimens collected within 10 miles of Auburn between 1839 and 1974: 938 Plantae, 345 Animalia, 249 Fungi, 16 Unrecorded, 5 Protozoa, 2 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A E WOODHEAD, A. A. Eaton, A. B. Seymour 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 Sceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) LyonSceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) Lyon1899H. H. Scudder
A photograph of the species Ochrolechia tartarea, not of this specimenOchrolechia tartarea (L.) A.Massal.1839E. Tuckerman
A photograph of the species Carex laxiflora, not of this specimenCarex laxiflora Lam.1840Thomas NuttallCambridge.
A photograph of the species Carex vestita, not of this specimenCarex vestita Willd.1840Thomas NuttallCambridge.
A photograph of the species Mycobilimbia hypnorum, not of this specimenMycobilimbia hypnorum (Lib.) Kalb & Hafellner1848E. Tuckerman
A photograph of the species Cladonia cornucopioides, not of this specimenCladonia cornucopioides F.Wilson1850J. L. RussellLeicester
A photograph of the species Geranium maculatum, not of this specimenGeranium maculatum L.1850not recorded
A photograph of the species Packera aurea, not of this specimenPackera aurea (L.) Á.Löve & D.Löve1850not recorded
A photograph of the species Carex aperta, not of this specimenCarex aperta Boott1853W. BoottMassachusetts
Elymus repens (L.) Gould1892Arthur B. SeymourCambridge.
Festuca pratensis Huds.1892Arthur B. SeymourCambridge.
Hepatica americana (DC.) Ker Gawl.1892Clarence Kinney

All 1,555 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 15 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Auburn: 10 past producers, 3 plants, 2 producers. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Titanium, Metal, Lead. 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
Bd Bloomfield Co--Worcester, Ma.LeadPlant
Crucible Spec. Metals--Auburn, Ma.IronPlant
Worcester B Plant TiTitanium, MetalPlant
Auburn PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Crossover PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Donald P Graves Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Highway PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Lind PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Oxford PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Oxford Quarry Plant #8Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms near this place

15 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Auburn in 15 storm reports between 1995 and 2021: 7 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 lightning. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2001LightningAuburn$15,000no account filed
July 2021Thunderstorm WindAuburn$5,500In Auburn, a utility pole and wires were down on Rock Avenue.
August 2016Thunderstorm WindAuburn$5,000Wires were downed onto the ramp to Interstate 90 at Bryn Mawr Avenue by thunderstorm winds.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindAuburn$5,000Large branches and wires on Central Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindAuburn$3,000Wires on Rochdale Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2020HailAuburn-In Auburn, dime sized hail was reported.
July 2019HailAuburn-Quarter sized hail.
July 2018Flash FloodWest Auburn-At 3:10 PM EST, a downpour over Auburn flooded the intersection of U.S. Route 20 and Southbridge Street. A water depth of 18 inches was reported on Route 20.
May 2009HailAuburn-Penny to quarter sized hail fell in Auburn.
July 2009HailAuburn-Penny size hail fell in a swath from Auburn to Worcester.
May 2011HailAuburn-no account filed
May 2009HailAuburn-no account filed
July 2006HailAuburn-no account filed
April 1996Flash FloodAuburn-no account filed
July 1995Thunderstorm WindAuburn-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Worcester 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
Pondville0.8 miles44
Drury Square0.8 miles44
Stoneville1.6 miles44
Woodland Park2.2 miles44
West Auburn2.3 miles44
West Millbury2.3 miles44
Pakachoag2.4 miles44
Jamesville (historical)2.5 miles44

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 610588. 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.

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.