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

Cambridge, Massachusetts

44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Worcester City. It lies in ZIP code area 01610. It stands on Pratt Brook. The Survey maps it on the Worcester South quadrangle.

Cambridge within Worcester County

Then and now

1889 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Cambridge, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Cambridge, surveyed 1889

Topographic sheets covering this place

44 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.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Worcester city, in the words of 1889.

1889, Worcester City

History Op W0R0E3Ter County, Massachusetts

of war, generally proved faithful to the English, and their services as scouts were invaluable. Among these none deserves better to be honored in Lancaster story than James Wiser, alias Quanapaug or Quanapohit, whose courage and fidelity would have saved the town from the massacre of 1676, had not his timely warning been unwisely discredited by the apparently lethargic Governor and his slumberous Council.

Read the rest of this passage

Photographs

4 photographs, 1938 to 1939

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.

Cambridge, Massachusetts. Historic churchyard near Harvard Square
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Historic churchyard near Harvard Square
Vanderbilt, Paul, photographer, 1939. Library of Congress
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Historic churchyard near Harvard Square
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Historic churchyard near Harvard Square
Vanderbilt, Paul, photographer, 1939. Library of Congress
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Historical marker with trash cans
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Historical marker with trash cans
Vanderbilt, Paul, photographer, 1938. Library of Congress
Cambridge, Massachusetts. View across Harvard Yard
Cambridge, Massachusetts. View across Harvard Yard
Vanderbilt, Paul, photographer, 1939. Library of Congress

Fires nearby

70 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 70 fires within 5 miles of Cambridge between 2015 and 2020, burning about 64 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 burning21
Smoking16
Recreation and ceremony14
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Arson/incendiarism7
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
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
8 September 2015Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 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
14 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
26 August 2020Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
13 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
6 July 2015Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 June 2020Debris and open burningunder 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 nearby

12 of 1,669 shown

Museums hold 1,669 specimens collected within 10 miles of Cambridge between 1839 and 1974: 991 Plantae, 384 Animalia, 270 Fungi, 16 Unrecorded, 6 Protozoa, 2 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A E WOODHEAD, A. A. Eaton, A. B. Seymour 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 Sceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) LyonSceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) Lyon1899H. H. Scudder
Specimen of Pooecetes gramineus gramineus (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)Pooecetes gramineus gramineus (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)1900Roscoe I. Giles
A photograph of the species Ochrolechia tartarea, not of this specimenOchrolechia tartarea (L.) A.Massal.1839E. Tuckerman
A photograph of the species Carex laxiflora, not of this specimenCarex laxiflora Lam.1840Thomas NuttallCambridge.
A photograph of the species Carex vestita, not of this specimenCarex vestita Willd.1840Thomas NuttallCambridge.
A photograph of the species Mycobilimbia hypnorum, not of this specimenMycobilimbia hypnorum (Lib.) Kalb & Hafellner1848E. Tuckerman
A photograph of the species Tamias striatus, not of this specimenTamias striatus lysteri (Richardson, 1829)1848L AgassizPARSONS ISLAND
A photograph of the species Cladonia cornucopioides, not of this specimenCladonia cornucopioides F.Wilson1850J. L. RussellLeicester
A photograph of the species Geranium maculatum, not of this specimenGeranium maculatum L.1850not recorded
A photograph of the species Packera aurea, not of this specimenPackera aurea (L.) Á.Löve & D.Löve1850not recorded
Elymus repens (L.) Gould1892Arthur B. SeymourCambridge.
Festuca pratensis Huds.1892Arthur B. SeymourCambridge.

All 1,669 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 14 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of Cambridge: 9 past producers, 3 producers, 2 plants. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Lead, Stone. 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
Bd Bloomfield Co--Worcester, Ma.LeadPlant
Crucible Spec. Metals--Auburn, Ma.IronPlant
Shrewsbury Trap RockStoneProducer
30 Southwest Cutoff PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Auburn PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Capa CorporationSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Crossover PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Donald P Graves Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
F Ang G Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
F and G PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working 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
South Worcester0.1 miles44
University Park0.4 miles45
Island0.5 miles44
Vernon Hill0.7 miles44
College Hill0.8 miles44
Webster Square1.0 miles44
Union Hill1.2 miles45
Rice Square1.3 miles44

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 610601. 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.