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

Ayer, Massachusetts

41 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Ayer town. It lies in ZIP code area 01432. It stands on Nonaicoicus Hill. The Survey maps it on the Ayer quadrangle. 2,986 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 240 feet above sea level.

Ayer within Middlesex County

Population over time

2 figures

Ayer grew from 2,868 to 2,986 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20102,868
20202,986+118 (+4%)

Then and now

1893 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 95 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Ayer, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of Ayer, surveyed 1893

Topographic sheets covering this place

41 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 2013

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 59 fires within 5 miles of Ayer between 2013 and 2020, burning about 51 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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
Debris and open burning25
Missing data/not specified/undetermined19
Recreation and ceremony5
Smoking4
Equipment and vehicle use3
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Arson/incendiarism1

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
26 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
20 September 2015Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
1 September 2017Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
30 August 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 August 2017Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 July 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 July 2015Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 July 2016Recreation and ceremony1.3 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlANDOVER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 449 shown

Museums hold 449 specimens collected within 10 miles of Ayer between 1899 and 1975: 267 Animalia, 82 Plantae, 62 Protozoa, 33 Fungi, 4 Unrecorded, 1 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. C. Gibson, A. F. Newton, A. F. Newton, M. K. Thayer 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
A photograph of the species Chrysosplenium americanum, not of this specimenChrysosplenium americanum Schwein. ex Hook.1899E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Oryzopsis asperifolia, not of this specimenOryzopsis asperifolia Michx.1899J M Greenman
A photograph of the species Pholiota carbonaria, not of this specimenPholiota carbonaria (Fr.) Singer1900H. WebsterGroton.
unnamed1926F.A. Gilbert
A photograph of the species Adoxophyes furcatana, not of this specimenAdoxophyes furcatana (Walker, 1863)1926not recordedLancaster
A photograph of the species Anavitrinella pampinaria, not of this specimenAnavitrinella pampinaria (Guenée, 1857)1926not recordedLunenburg
A photograph of the species Alopecurus aequalis, not of this specimenAlopecurus aequalis Sobol.1930M. L. Fernald; C. A. Weatherby
A photograph of the species Cistothorus stellaris, not of this specimenCistothorus stellaris (J.F.Naumann, 1823)1930Collector(s): James Lee PetersHarvard
A photograph of the species Colaptes auratus, not of this specimenColaptes auratus luteus Bangs, 18981930Collector(s): James Lee PetersHarvard
A photograph of the species Epitheca cynosura, not of this specimenEpitheca cynosura (Say, 1840)1930Davis, E. M.MA, Middlesex Co., Shirley
A photograph of the species Hemaris thysbe, not of this specimenHemaris thysbe Fabricius, 17751930not recordedLunenburg
A photograph of the species Lanius ludovicianus, not of this specimenLanius ludovicianus migrans W.Palmer, 18981930Collector(s): James Lee PetersHarvard

All 449 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

7 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Ayer: 5 past producers, 1 occurrence, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Kyanite. 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
Oak Hill Andalusite OccurrenceKyaniteOccurrenceMetamorphic
Hazen PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Joy Contracting TcSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
San Vel Contracting CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
San Vel Pit & PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Shirley PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Willow PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms nearby

10 since 1994

The National Weather Service names Ayer in 10 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 6 thunderstorm wind, 3 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2020Thunderstorm WindAyer$2,600In Ayer, trees and wires were down on Jonathan Dr. and Groton School Rd.
May 2009Thunderstorm WindAyer$2,000Trees on Littleton and Jackson Roads in Ayer were downed by thunderstorm winds. In addition, large limbs and branches in Groton were downed.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindAyer$500In Ayer there were trees down blocking the road on Elm St.
September 2021FloodAyer-In Ayer, Bishop Road was closed from Fort Devens to MacPherson Road due to flooding.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindAyer-Trees down across railroad tracks.
June 1994Thunderstorm WindAyer-A severe thunderstorm moving through western Middlesex County produced a wind gust to 70 mph and the local fire department reported a large tree down.
August 2015HailAyer-no account filed
May 2014HailAyer-no account filed
March 2012HailAyer-no account filed
July 1996Thunderstorm WindAyer-no account filed

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
Devenscrest1.5 miles41
Woodsville2.0 miles41
Willows2.7 miles41
Pingryville2.9 miles41
Shirley Center3.3 miles44
Shirley3.4 miles44
North Shirley3.4 miles44
Groton3.5 miles41

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on AyerAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4831155The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 611084. 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.