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

Boxford, Massachusetts

41 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Boxford town. It lies in ZIP code area 01921. It stands on Long Hill. The Survey maps it on the Georgetown quadrangle. 2,432 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 102 feet above sea level.

Boxford within Essex County

Population over time

2 figures

Boxford grew from 2,339 to 2,432 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
20102,339
20202,432+93 (+4%)

Then and now

1888 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 109 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Boxford, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Boxford, surveyed 1888

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

74 since 2006

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 74 fires within 5 miles of Boxford between 2006 and 2020, burning about 227 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 8 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 burning21
Recreation and ceremony13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined13
Equipment and vehicle use8
Arson/incendiarism8
Smoking5
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Fireworks1
Natural1

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
6 September 2007Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
28 September 2019Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
13 September 2020Smoking1.2 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
7 August 2016Debris and open burning2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMIDDLETON
7 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlTOPSFIELD
5 August 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBOXFORD
28 August 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMIDDLETON

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 3,133 shown

Museums hold 3,133 specimens collected within 10 miles of Boxford between 1800 and 1975: 1,299 Plantae, 1,119 Animalia, 645 Fungi, 31 Unrecorded, 14 Chromista, 13 Bacteria, 12 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A Brown, A. B. Seymour, A. H. Moore 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 Rhodocollybia prolixa, not of this specimenRhodocollybia prolixa var. distorta (Fr.) Antonín, Halling & Noordel.1800R. B. MackintoshPeabody
A photograph of the species Viola labradorica, not of this specimenViola labradorica Schrank1816not recordedAndover Turnpike, 6 miles from Boston U.S.A.
A photograph of the species Brasenia schreberi, not of this specimenBrasenia schreberi J.F.Gmel.1821not recordedPleasant Pond, Wenham, Mass.
A photograph of the species Diphyscium foliosum, not of this specimenDiphyscium foliosum (Hedw.) D.Mohr1822ALCOTT
A photograph of the species Arcyria oerstedii, not of this specimenArcyria oerstedii Rostaf., 18751826F. A. Gilbert
A photograph of the species Dumetella carolinensis, not of this specimenDumetella carolinensis (Linnaeus, 1766)1833J.S. AppletonWest Newbury
A photograph of the species Glyceria obtusa, not of this specimenGlyceria obtusa (Muhl.) Trin.1838W Oakes
A photograph of the species Clethra alnifolia, not of this specimenClethra alnifolia L.1840OakesHerbariumRowley
A photograph of the species Euphorbia polygonifolia, not of this specimenEuphorbia polygonifolia L.1840Wolle, J.Ipswich
A photograph of the species Iva frutescens, not of this specimenIva frutescens L.1840Oakesad Ipswich
A photograph of the species Potentilla anserina, not of this specimenPotentilla anserina L.1840Wolle, J.Ipswich
A photograph of the species Sisymbrium officinale, not of this specimenSisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.1840OakesIpswich

All 3,133 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

4 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Boxford: 4 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Sulfur, Iron. 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
Georgetown MineIronPast Producer
Harriman MineSulfurPast Producer
R W Drinkwater IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Topseal PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Essex County

Storms nearby

17 since 2006

The National Weather Service names Boxford in 17 storm reports between 2006 and 2023: 14 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 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
July 2014LightningEast Boxford$50,000Lightning struck a house on Baldpate Road in Boxford which ignited a fire.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindEast Boxford$50,000Trees and wires on Glendale Road were downed by thunderstorm winds. A tree was downed onto a car on Lake Shore Road, blocking the road.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindEast Boxford$20,000Trees on Ipswich, Barehill, and Whitney Roads were downed by thunderstorm winds. Wires on Georgetown and Hillside Roads were downed.
September 2014Thunderstorm WindEast Boxford$10,000Trees and wires on Main Street and Glendale Road were downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindWest Boxford$6,000At 1:25 PM EST a thunderstorm brought several trees down on wires on Great Pond Road in North Andover.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindEast Boxford$5,000Trees were downed by thunderstorm winds on Blueberry Lane and Rowley Road in Topsfield.
September 2023Thunderstorm WindEast Boxford$4,000In Boxford, numerous trees and wires were down on various streets with one tree down on the roof of the fire station.
September 2023Thunderstorm WindEast Boxford$3,000In Boxford, there were trees and wires down on several streets.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindEast Boxford$1,800In Topsfield, a tree and wires were down on Haverhill Rd (Rt 97) at Ipswich Rd. A tree was down on Rowley Rd and a tree was down on wires on Wilmor Rd.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindWest Boxford$1,500At 134 PM EST, a tree was down on state route 133 in Boxford, blocking the road.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindBoxford-Trees and wires down on Topsfield Road.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindEast Boxford-Wires down.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindEast Boxford-Trees and wires down on Oak Ridge Road.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindBoxford-Numerous trees and wires down in Boxford and Andover.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindBoxford-Trees down on Dona and Middletown Roads blocking the roadway.
June 2012HailEast Boxford-no account filed
July 2006HailBoxford-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Essex 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
East Parish1.0 miles40
Kinsman Corner2.0 miles41
Kings Forest2.1 miles41
East Boxford2.3 miles41
Topsfield3.0 miles41
South Georgetown3.4 miles41
Boxford Station3.4 miles40
Rooty Plain3.8 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 BoxfordAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4951697The 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 614204. 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.