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

Blackstone, Massachusetts

50 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Blackstone town. It lies in ZIP code area 01504. It stands on Fox Brook. The Survey maps it on the Blackstone quadrangle.

Blackstone within Worcester County

Then and now

1886 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Blackstone, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Blackstone, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

50 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.

Photographs

2 photographs,

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.

Blackstone Canal Millbury Segment, Beginning northwest of State Route 146 & McCracken Road, running along west side of Route 146, Millbury, Worcester County, MA
Blackstone Canal Millbury Segment, Beginning northwest of State Route 146 & McCracken Road, running along west side of Route 146, Millbury, Worcester County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress
Old Stone Building, Blackstone, Worcester County, MA
Old Stone Building, Blackstone, Worcester County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Fires nearby

71 since 2002

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 71 fires within 5 miles of Blackstone between 2002 and 2020, burning about 62 acres in total. None started naturally. 10 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined23
Debris and open burning19
Arson/incendiarism10
Smoking9
Recreation and ceremony8
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Other causes1

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 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 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
29 September 2002Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
27 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
21 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.4 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Worcester County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 268 shown

Museums hold 268 specimens collected within 10 miles of Blackstone between 1844 and 1974: 130 Plantae, 101 Animalia, 23 Fungi, 9 Protozoa, 3 Unrecorded, 2 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. R. Hodgdon; F. L. Steele, A. R. Hodgdon; F. L. Steele 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 Chilonectria coryli (Fuckel) Ellis & Everh.Chilonectria coryli (Fuckel) Ellis & Everh.1896Henderson
Specimen of Coryneum pulvinatum KunzeCoryneum pulvinatum Kunze1897D. Murray
A photograph of the species Trichophorum planifolium, not of this specimenTrichophorum planifolium (Spreng.) Palla1844Collector unspecifiedUxbridge
A photograph of the species Carex vesicaria, not of this specimenCarex vesicaria L.1848J. W. Robbins
A photograph of the species Potamogeton epihydrus, not of this specimenPotamogeton epihydrus Raf.1848J. W. RobbinsUxbridge
A photograph of the species Potamogeton bicupulatus, not of this specimenPotamogeton bicupulatus Fernald1854W. J. RobbinsUxbridge
A photograph of the species Carex brevior, not of this specimenCarex brevior (Dewey) Mack.1855J. W. Robbins
A photograph of the species Carex normalis, not of this specimenCarex normalis Mack.1855J. W. Robbins
A photograph of the species Carex siccata, not of this specimenCarex siccata Dewey1855J. W. Robbins
A photograph of the species Carex straminea, not of this specimenCarex straminea Willd. ex Schkuhr1855J. W. Robbins
A photograph of the species Hyla versicolor, not of this specimenHyla versicolor LeConte, 18251857Weinland, David Friedrich
Sterna hirundo hirundo Linnaeus, 17581892Babbitt, J PMassachusetts

All 268 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

6 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Blackstone: 5 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Candlewood Recreation AreaSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Helca PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Oliveira PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
R A Bergesson and SonsSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Town of UxbridgeSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Uxbridge PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms nearby

11 since 1999

The National Weather Service names Blackstone in 11 storm reports between 1999 and 2020: 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 flood, 2 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. The reports record 1 injury. 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 2004LightningBlackstone1 hurtno account filed
August 2003Thunderstorm WindBlackstone$10,000no account filed
May 2018FloodEast Blackstone$5,000At 5:23 PM EST, Main Street in Blackstone was flooded and impassable. A car was trapped in the floodwaters and towed out.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindEast Blackstone$5,000A tree was downed onto wires at the intersection of Milk and Chestnut Streets in Blackstone.
June 2020Flash FloodBlackstone$4,000In Blackstone, two cars were stuck in flood waters on Rathbun Street. Roadway was impassable.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindEast Blackstone$1,000In Blackstone, a tree was down on Federal Street near the Hartnett Middle School. Trees and wires were down on Farm Street.
August 2019FloodBlackstone$500In Blackstone, a car was stuck in flood waters on Rathbun Street.
July 2018Flash FloodBlackstone-At 4:22 pm EST heavy rain in Blackstone made Rathbun Street at Champlain Avenue flooded and impassable.
November 2018FloodEast Blackstone-In Blackstone, Main Street was closed due to flooding. A car was stuck in flood waters on Main Street near CVS Pharmacy.
June 2006HailBlackstone-no account filed
September 1999Heavy RainBlackstone-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
Millville2.2 miles50
Millerville2.2 miles44
East Blackstone2.3 miles50
Chestnut Hill Meeting House2.7 miles50
Ironstone3.8 miles50
Centerville5.4 miles50
Wheelockville5.8 miles50
Mendon6.1 miles50

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 611608. 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.