BlockBefore

Berlin, Massachusetts

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Berlin town. It lies in ZIP code area 01503. It lies near Powderhouse Hill. The Survey maps it on the Clinton quadrangle.

Berlin within Worcester County

Then and now

1887 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 110 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Berlin, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Berlin, surveyed 1887

Compare 1887 against another survey:

On record in Berlin

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 2 records

Topographic sheets covering this place

20 surveys from 43 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

17,635 words on this township

History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Berlin Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

William Addison Howe, son of Solomon and Sarah (Stowe) Howe, both of Marlboro', wa-s born in Berlin July 4, 18015. He was inherently a " business man." The " heredity " was jirobably of the Stowe blood. His father was a country merchant - groceries, hardware, hats, cotton cloth, calicoes and broadcloth. Young Howe at sixteen bought and sold on his own judgment. A " tavern " was run in connection. The father died at the son's majority ; the mother soon after. He kejit the family of five in home life till his location in Boston as a wholesale dry goods merchant at thirty-one years of age. This ability had come of his own hand in a country store in a town of six hundred inhabitants. He took a younger Itrother from the farm and made of him also a Boston merchant. Aci|uiring reputation as a business man, he left the store to his brother and a partner, and took the i)residency of the Eliot Fire Insurance Company, which soon had an established reputation. In connection he was also elected president of the Eliot Bank. These offices he held till stricken by paralysis, in 1858. His life was prolonged till the 1st of October, 1863. His years of feebleness were spent upon the homestead, which he had sacredly kept. He never married. His last days, though clouded, were enjoyable. His ambition for wealth (he had a competence) was never half so intense as was his desire to stand among the successful business men of Boston. This was the pride of his life.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.

Solomon Henry Howe, brother to William A., was born November 29, 1822. Reared in the country, he entered his brother's store in 1830. He early developed aptitude for mercantile life ; became partner in his brother's firm and pressed business to a large extent. On his brother's retirement he entered into a partnership - Pierce, Howe & Co. (William P. Pierce) ; later as Howe, Pierce & Co., with a younger Pierce brother. The elder Pierce said that S. H. Howe was the best salesman in Boston. Later he was silent partner in the house organized of his own clerks- Jackson, Mandel & Co. Mr. Howe retired with competence of wealth to a fine farm on Wataquadock Hill in Bolton. He adorned his home and improved his farm ; was prominent in the New England and the Worcester County Agricultural Societies ; was president of the latter. He held various trusts in the town. But his life had been too stirring for the country and leisure. He was persuaded into connection with the B. C. & F. R. R- He was president when the road was extended to New Bedford. The road came to grief and Mr. Howe lost most of his well-earned wealth. But his buoyant nature carried him through the struggle. He was just getting free of legal complications when, February 5, 187!), he was smitten by the family hereditary disease, paralysis, of which his mother, brother and two sisters also died. Mr. Howe was a very genial and most popular man in all the relations of life. He married, 1851, Lucinda, daughter of James Savage, Esq., of Boston, then of Southboro". He left one daughter, Mrs. Leslie Hastings, of Cambridge; three sons - Solomon H., commission agent. New York City; Doctor James 8., of Boston; William Addison, of Oregon. He represented his district in the House 1875.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.

A partial list of the soldiers in the French War (1755-60), in the regular army for one or more campaigns, contains the names of Edward Blair and Thomas Barnes, corporals ; Oliver Cobleigh, Joseph Gilbert and Pelatiah Ware, privates.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., 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 Berlin Town - it names this place 105 more 105 times.

Fires near this place

126 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 126 fires within 5 miles of Berlin between 2004 and 2020, burning about 72 acres in total. None started naturally. 12 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 burning55
Missing data/not specified/undetermined23
Recreation and ceremony20
Arson/incendiarism12
Smoking9
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
7 September 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMARLBORO
7 September 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
28 September 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
20 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
20 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
16 September 2020Arson/incendiarismunder 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 1,645 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,645 specimens collected within 10 miles of Berlin between 1858 and 1973: 1,103 Animalia, 296 Plantae, 235 Fungi, 5 Unrecorded, 3 Chromista, 3 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. C. Gibson, A. G. Chandler, A. K. Harrison 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 Chrysosplenium americanum Schwein. ex Hook.Chrysosplenium americanum Schwein. ex Hook.1899E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Quercus velutina, not of this specimenQuercus velutina Lam.1858E. S. HoarRoad to Marlboro, Concord.
A photograph of the species Condylura cristata, not of this specimenCondylura cristata cristata (Linnaeus, 1758)1859E S WheelerBERLIN
A photograph of the species Dryobates pubescens, not of this specimenDryobates pubescens medianus (Swainson, 1832)1861not recordedBolton
Clemmys insculpta Fitzinger, 18351864Agassiz
A photograph of the species Bromus sterilis, not of this specimenBromus sterilis L.1879C. E. Faxon
A photograph of the species Merulius lacrymans, not of this specimenMerulius lacrymans (Wulfen) Schumach.1879Howes, A.Massachusetts
A photograph of the species Potamogeton gramineus, not of this specimenPotamogeton gramineus L.1879T. MorongLake Quinsigamond
A photograph of the species Potamogeton berchtoldii, not of this specimenPotamogeton berchtoldii subsp. berchtoldii1880T Morong
A photograph of the species Potamogeton vaseyi, not of this specimenPotamogeton vaseyi J.W.Robbins1880Faxon, E.; Faxon, C.E.Worcester, Lake Quinsigamond
Arphia sulphurea (Fabricius, 1781)1892unknownWellesley
A photograph of the species Castilleja coccinea, not of this specimenCastilleja coccinea (L.) Spreng.1892E. C. SmithMarboro.

All 1,645 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 17 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 17 workings within 5 miles of Berlin: 14 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Berlin Stone Co QuarryStone, DimensionProducer
Gneiss QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Bates Sand and Gravel Co.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Berin PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Berlin PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Berlin Town PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
C and M EnterprisesSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Casaceli TruckingSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Casaceli Trucking PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
E L Dauphanis IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms near this place

7 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Berlin in 7 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, 1 hail, 1 tornado. 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 2014LightningSouth Berlin$100,000A four unit senior housing building was struck by lightning, setting it on fire. No injuries occurred as a result of the fire.
August 2003Thunderstorm WindBerlin$20,000no account filed
July 2009Thunderstorm WindBerlin$10,000Trees were downed by thunderstorm winds.
September 2025Tornado (EF0)West Berlin$5,000EF1 tornado touched down west of Barnes Hill Road in Berlin, MA and traveled ENE crossing Derby road and West street. Many soft or hardwood trees snapped at the trunk or uprooted.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindSouth Berlin$2,500In Berlin, a tree was down on a guardrail on Coburn Road and West Street. A tree was down on Pleasant Street and a large limb was down at Pleasant Street and Kendall Lane. A tree was also down on Bridge Road at River Road West.
July 2021HailBerlin-In Berlin, half dollar size hail was reported.
May 1995Thunderstorm WindBerlin-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
Carterville0.7 miles43
West Berlin1.3 miles43
South Berlin1.5 miles44
South Bolton2.0 miles43
East Berlin2.1 miles43
Fryville2.1 miles43
Seventh Day Adventist Village2.8 miles43
Chapinville3.1 miles42

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 610833. 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.