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

Auburndale, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Newton City. It lies in ZIP code area 02466. It stands on Stony Brook. The Survey maps it on the Natick quadrangle.

Auburndale within Middlesex County

Then and now

1893 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 96 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Auburndale, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Auburndale, surveyed 1893

Topographic sheets covering this place

46 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.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Newton city, The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.

From History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880 - Newton City

Newton

JbIj^ 1700, M. 63. Capt. Noab, of Newton, an Officer in the Expedition against Canada. Killed in battle with the Freoch and Indians July C, 1C90. M. 50, leaving t son Thomas. Ebeneser, oC Newton, died June 21, 1691. .fi. 45. ... . . J. B. Jepson, Newton Comer, rereals many gravestones whose inscriptions are no longer l^ble, and others, recalling the names which filled a laige place in the early history of the town, and Belonged to the founders of its institutions and the authors of its prosperity.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

124,955 words on this township

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Newton City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

As the times grew more threatening, the selectmen were authorized to procure fire-arms for those who were too poor to furnish them. John Pigeon gave the town two field-pieces, which were accepted by the town with thanks, and a vote was passed, January 2, 1775, to raise a company of thirty -two minute-men, who were to meet half a day every week through the winter for drill, and every man was to be paid for his time the sum of eightpence, or, as afterwards stated, one shilling, and the eight ofGcers eight shillings per day " over and above i the shilling each."

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

At the opening of the war, April 19, 1775, Newton numbered three companies, the east and west companies and the minute-men, - a total of two hundred and eighteen men. Jeremiah Wiswall commanded the east company, Amariah Fuller the , west, and Phineas Cook the minute-men. Besides these, many Newton men who had passed the age for military service, inspired by patriotism, were eager to renew their youth and participate in the excitement and the glory of the conflict. Noah Wiswall, a man seventy-six years of age, who, like his ancestors, occu2ned the house at the northeasterly side of the pond at Newton Centre, now in possession of the heirs of Deacon Luther Paul, went to Lexington on the 19th of April, 1775, because, as he said, " he wanted to see what the boys were doing." As he was pointing out to his companions three British soldiers on the field of strife, a ball whizzed through his hand, inflicting a painful wound. Undaunted, he coolly took out his handkerchief and bound up the wounded member, and then picking up the musket of a fallen regular bore it home with him as a trophy.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

Rev. Mr. Greenough on one occasion expostulated with him for instructing his pupils in astronomy, - a favorite study of the venerable master; but with a natural genius for teaching, great capacity, and keen conscientiousness, he endeavored to give his pupils the highest and best in his power. The influence of Mr. Davis as an enterprising citizen has been highly beneficial to the town. Most of the trees wliich adorn the streets of West Newton were set out by him. The large ehn in front of the old tavern-house, so called, was set out by John Barber, who gave to the town the land improved for the West Parish Burial-Ground, and was the first male tenant of it. A woman who had died of small-pox had preceded him. After Mr. Davis relinquished teaching in West Newton, on account of the pressure of other duties, his daughter, Miss Harriet L. Davis, took up the work, and was a most successful teacher until she was compelled by failing health to dismiss her school. Her father gave instruction to her pupils on certain days of the week in astronomy, geology, etc., and when she was laid~ aside by sickness, lie continued the school for several weeks, hoping for her restoration.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

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 Newton City - it names this place 15 more 15 times.

Fires near this place

94 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 94 fires within 5 miles of Auburndale between 2015 and 2020, burning about 50 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
Recreation and ceremony41
Missing data/not specified/undetermined34
Debris and open burning12
Arson/incendiarism3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Other causes1
Smoking1

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 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNEEDHAM
3 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNEEDHAM
23 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWELLESLEY
21 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNEEDHAM
14 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNEEDHAM

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 2,565 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 2,565 specimens collected within 10 miles of Auburndale between 1898 and 1975: 1,318 Animalia, 667 Plantae, 524 Fungi, 29 Protozoa, 13 Bacteria, 10 Chromista, 4 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, 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 Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 18221900not recordedWayland
A photograph of the species Actaea pachypoda, not of this specimenActaea pachypoda Elliott1898Ernest Charles Smith
Aglaospora profusa (Fr.) De Not.1898Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Antennaria howellii, not of this specimenAntennaria howellii subsp. canadensis (Greene) R.J.Bayer1898Williams, E.F.
A photograph of the species Antennaria parlinii, not of this specimenAntennaria parlinii subsp. fallax (Greene) R.J.Bayer & Stebbins1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Antennaria plantaginifolia, not of this specimenAntennaria plantaginifolia (L.) Hook.1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Acanthis flammea, not of this specimenAcanthis flammea flammea (Linnaeus, 1758)1900ZAPPEY, W RROSLINDALE
A photograph of the species Acer carpinifolium, not of this specimenAcer carpinifolium Siebold & Zucc.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
A photograph of the species Acer palmatum, not of this specimenAcer palmatum var. dissectum (Thunb.) Miq.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
A photograph of the species Agaricus brunnescens, not of this specimenAgaricus brunnescens Peck1900Morris, G. E.Waltham
A photograph of the species Alnus incana, not of this specimenAlnus incana subsp. rugosa (Du Roi) R.T.Clausen1900J. Murdoch, Jr.Roxbury
A photograph of the species Alnus serrulata, not of this specimenAlnus serrulata (Aiton) Willd.1900J. Murdoch, Jr.West Roxbury

All 2,565 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Auburndale: 4 past producers, 1 producer, 1 plant. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium). 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
Nrc Inc--Newton, Ma.Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium)Plant
Massachusetts Broken Stone CoStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Weston MineStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Burton PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Town of WellesleySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Town of WellesleySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms near this place

2 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Auburndale in 2 storm reports between 2015 and 2023: 1 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
July 2023Thunderstorm WindAuburndale$500In Weston, there was a tree down blocking Loring Rd.
September 2015FloodAuburndale-Interstate 95 southbound was closed at exit 25 due to flooding.

Every storm recorded in Middlesex 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
Woodland0.9 miles46
West Newton0.9 miles46
Newton Lower Falls1.3 miles46
Riverview1.7 miles46
Cedarwood1.8 miles46
Waban1.8 miles46
Waltham2.1 miles46
Newton2.2 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 611893. 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.