Brookline, Massachusetts

• Open map evidence
• Research guide
• Norfolk County

The same ground, surveyed 96 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

1893 1989

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 12 of 98 shown

• John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic SiteNational Historic Landmark · listed 1967
• George R. Minot HouseNational Historic Landmark · listed 1976
• Olmsted, Frederick Law, House, National Historic SiteNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
• Reservoir ParkNational Historic Landmark · listed 1985
• Larz Anderson Park Historic Districtlisted 1985
• Beacon Street Historic Districtlisted 1985
• Beaconsfield Terraces Historic Districtlisted 1985
• William Ingersoll Bowditch Houselisted 1985
• Brandegee Estatelisted 1985
• Brookline Town Green Historic Districtlisted 1980
• Brookline Village Commercial Districtlisted 1979
• Building at 30-34 Station Streetlisted 1985

Every listing in Norfolk County

Surveyed buildings and structures 7 records

• Boston Water Works, Fisher Hill Reservoir & Gatehouse, Fisher Avenue, Brooklinefederal building survey, 1 photograph
• Cochituate Aqueduct, Brookline Reservoir Gatehouse, Boylston & Warren Streets, Brooklinefederal building survey, 2 photographs
• Fairsted, 99 Warren Street, Brooklinefederal building survey, 78 photographs
• John Fitzgerald Kennedy Birthplace, 83 Beals Street, Brooklinefederal building survey, 25 photographs
• Lynch-O'Gorman House, 41 Mason Terrace, Brooklinefederal building survey, 10 photographs
• Milestones GG & OOO, Various Brookline locations, Brooklinefederal building survey, 2 photographs
• West End Street Railway, Cleveland Circle Car House, Chestnut Hill Avenue & Beacon Street vicinity, Brooklinefederal building survey, 1 photograph

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.

• 1893 USGS Boston quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
• 1903 USGS Boston quadrangle1:62500, 13 printings
• 1943 USGS Boston quadrangle1:125000
• 1944 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:24000
• 1946 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:31680, 3 printings
• 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1954 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:25000
• 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
• 1956 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
• 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1970 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:24000
• 1970 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:25000
• 1977 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:25000
• 1985 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
• 1987 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:25000, 2 printings
• 1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

An account from the chapter on Brookline town. The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.

History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884 names this settlement in its chapter on Brookline Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

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.

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 30 fires within 5 miles of Brookline between 2003 and 2020, burning about 329 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 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.

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

• Brookline Village
• Beaconsfield
• Reservoir
• Westbrook Village
• Coolidge Corner
• Longwood Station

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 12,934 specimens collected within 10 miles of Brookline between 1810 and 1975: 5,256 Plantae, 3,907 Fungi, 3,299 Animalia, 193 Protozoa, 180 Chromista, 66 Unrecorded, 33 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), ?, ? ex Herb. W.G. Farlow 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
	Araiospora pulchra Thaxt.	1900	R. Thaxter	Stony Brook
	Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald	1900	A. P. Chute
	Thalictrum L.	1810	Boott, J.W.	Near Boston.
	Anemone L.	1815	Boott, J.	Andover Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston.
	Corydalis Vent.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Worcester turnpike, 6 miles from Boston.
	Corylus L.	1815	not recorded	Cambridge Port, 2 miles from Boston.
	Ericaceae	1815	Boott	Boston, U.S.A.
	Hepatica Mill.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Sweet Auburn.
	Limonium vulgare Mill.	1815	not recorded	On Cragies Road [=near Cragies Bridge], 1 1/2 miles from Boston.
	Mollugo verticillata L.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Boston.
	Nuphar Sm.	1815	Boott, J.W.	Worcester Turnpike 6 miles from Boston.
	Persicaria (L.) Mill.	1815	Boott, J.W.	Craigie's Road, 2 miles from Boston.

All 12,934 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Brookline: 8 plants, 2 past producers, 1 unknown. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Lead, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Tantalum. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Every working recorded in Norfolk County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brookline in 19 storm reports between 1995 and 2022: 13 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 2 flood, 1 hail. 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.

Every storm recorded in Norfolk County

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 606977. 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.