BlockBoylston, Massachusetts
43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Boylston town. It lies in ZIP code area 01505. It lies near Cunningham Ledge. The Survey maps it on the Clinton quadrangle.
Then and now
1887 to 1997The 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.
Compare 1887 against another survey:
On record in Boylston
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
Barlin Acreslisted 1982
John B. Gough Houselisted 1974
Topographic sheets covering this place
20 surveys from 43 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1887 USGS Marlboro quadrangle1:62500
- 1889 USGS Marlboro quadrangle1:62500
- 1896 USGS Marlboro quadrangle1:62500
- 1898 USGS Marlboro quadrangle1:62500, 8 printings
- 1908 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1943 USGS Clinton quadrangle1:31680, 3 printings
- 1943 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000
- 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Clinton quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Clinton quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Clinton quadrangle1:25000
- 1965 USGS Clinton quadrangle1:24000
- 1975 USGS Clinton quadrangle1:25000
- 1985 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
- 1988 USGS Hudson quadrangle1:25000, 2 printings
- 1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1997 USGS Hudson quadrangle1:25000
In the county-history sources
9,612 words on this townshipHistory of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Boylston Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
From its high elevation Boylston is essentially an agricultural town, and offers but little opportunity for manufacturing or other industries, but as a farming town it takes a liigh rank with the other towns of the county, both in the industry and prosperity of its inhabitants and in the cultivation and appearance of its farms. From the assessors' returns for the present year it appears that the valuation of the town is $.523,573 ; rate of taxation, $1.5 per $1000. There are 160 dwelling-houses, 208 ratable polls, 224 horses, 820 neat-cattle and 147 swine in the town. Its dairy products are extensive, and it has some of the best orchards in the county. According to the Massachusetts State Census of 1875, there were produced in the town during the year ending May 1, 1875, 20,930 oarrels of apples, valued at $8,100 ; 4,639 bushels of corn, valued at §4,706 ; 18,689 bushels of potatoes, valued at §11,847 ; 2,240 tons of hay, valued at S37,- 053; 148,415 gallons of milk, valued at $22,211; 43,500 pounds of pork, valued at $4,521; 49,425 pounds of beef, valued at $3,876. The total value of all agricultural products for that year was $147,537. The only manufacturing interests in the town are situated at Sawyer's Mills, where there is a cotton-mill owned and operated by the Lancaster Mills Company, of Clinton. The resident superintendents of the mills have been Deacon Moses Brigham, Levi Hoi brook, James A. Weeks, Edmund C. Forbes and Thomas C. Sheldon.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.
The people of the town have always been noted for their healthfulne^s and longevity. For a period from 1797 to 1830 there were thirty-four deaths of persons over eighty years of age. Miss Betsey Stone, a descendant of one of the oldest families, died June 30, 1868, at the great age of one hundred years and eight months. Abel Farwell, a pensioner of the War of 1812, died September 1, 1888, at the age of ninetyseven years, and was at the time of his death the oldest person in the town. Ezra Ball, now in his ninetv-fourth year, at present enjoys that distinction, and is the oldest resident member of the Congregational Church, an honor which was enjoyed by his grandfather at the time of the settlement of Rev. Mr. Hooper in 1794, and by his father when Rev. Mr. Sanford became pastor of the church in 1832. The population of the town, according to the last census, is eight hundred and thirty-four, and it has not varied very much from this number at any period of the town's historj^. The greatest number of inhabitants at any one time was in 1808, the year of the incorporation of West Boylston as a separate town, when it was ten hundred and thirty. In 1885 there were fourteen persons in the town above eighty years of age.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.
Boylston has an excellent public library, which was established by the town at its annual meeting, March 1, 1880, when the sum of two hundred dollars and the amount of the dog fund remitted from the county treasurer was appropriated for the purpose.
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 Boylston Town - it names this place 25 more 25 times.
Fires near this place
90 since 2004Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 90 fires within 5 miles of Boylston between 2004 and 2020, burning about 47 acres in total. None started naturally. 7 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 burning | 49 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 11 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Smoking | 6 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 2 September 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 18 September 2016 | Smoking | 3.0 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 25 August 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 21 August 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 13 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 1 August 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 4 July 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected near this place
12 of 1,720 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,720 specimens collected within 10 miles of Boylston between 1848 and 1973: 1,129 Animalia, 477 Plantae, 99 Fungi, 5 Unrecorded, 5 Chromista, 5 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Ferrett, 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 | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Pooecetes gramineus gramineus (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) | 1900 | Roscoe I. Giles | |
 | Tamias striatus lysteri (Richardson, 1829) | 1848 | L Agassiz | PARSONS ISLAND |
 | Geranium maculatum L. | 1850 | not recorded | |
 | Packera aurea (L.) Á.Löve & D.Löve | 1850 | not recorded | |
 | Quercus velutina Lam. | 1858 | E. S. Hoar | Road to Marlboro, Concord. |
 | Condylura cristata cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1859 | E S Wheeler | BERLIN |
 | Dryobates pubescens medianus (Swainson, 1832) | 1861 | not recorded | Bolton |
| Clemmys insculpta Fitzinger, 1835 | 1864 | Agassiz | ||
 | Magnolia × soulangeana Soul.-Bod. | 1866 | J. Mekenes | |
| Arthuriomyces peckianus (Howe) Cummins & Y.Hirats. | 1892 | W. B. Hosmer | ||
 | Castilleja coccinea (L.) Spreng. | 1892 | E. C. Smith | Marboro. |
| Hepatica americana (DC.) Ker Gawl. | 1892 | Clarence Kinney |
All 1,720 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 18 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Boylston: 14 past producers, 3 producers, 1 prospect. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Peat, Iron, Zinc. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pandolf Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Sterling Peat Co | Peat | Past Producer | Peat | |
| Sterling Prospect | Iron, Zinc | Prospect | ||
| Baldarelli Bros. Sand & Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Baldarelli Brothers Sand and Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Bates Sand and Gravel Co. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Berin Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Berlin Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Berlin Town Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
6 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Boylston in 6 storm reports between 2001 and 2022: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 flood, 1 flash 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Boylston | $150,000 | no account filed |
| September 2021 | Flash Flood | West Boylston | $10,000 | In West Boylston, the Fire Department showed a Facebook photo of a driveway and part of a road was washed out by flood waters, with a white sedan hanging over the washed out road. Exact street unknown. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Boylston | $10,000 | Three one foot diameter trees were downed in several locations across Granby. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Boylston | $500 | In West Boylston, a tree was down at the intersection of Route 140 and Pinewood Drive. |
| August 2018 | Flood | West Boylston | - | At 6:03 PM EST, Crescent Street was flooded and impassable. |
| July 2001 | Hail | West Boylston | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duck Harbor (historical) | 1.8 miles | 43 | |
| Clinton | 2.0 miles | 43 | |
| West Berlin | 2.3 miles | 43 | |
| Fullerville (historical) | 2.6 miles | 43 | |
| Carterville | 3.1 miles | 43 | |
| Boylston Center | 3.2 miles | 44 | |
| Ebenville | 3.2 miles | 43 | |
| Sterling Camp Grounds | 3.3 miles | 46 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 617087. 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.