Canton, Massachusetts

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.

1886 1989

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.

• 1886 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1894 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1894 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1894 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1894 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1894 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1894 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1894 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1894 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1894 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1894 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1919 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1936 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:24000
• 1941 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:31680
• 1941 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:31680
• 1941 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:31680
• 1943 USGS Boston quadrangle1:125000
• 1946 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:24000
• 1947 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:25000
• 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
• 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
• 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
• 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
• 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
• 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
• 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
• 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
• 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
• 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
• 1958 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:24000
• 1958 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:24000
• 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
• 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
• 1970 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:25000
• 1970 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:24000
• 1977 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:25000
• 1985 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
• 1985 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:25000
• 1985 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:25000
• 1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
• 1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000

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.

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 189 fires within 5 miles of Canton between 2015 and 2020, burning about 93 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was 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:

• East Sharon
• Springdale
• Canton Junction
• West Stoughton
• Plimptonville
• Sharon

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Museums hold 7,725 specimens collected within 10 miles of Canton between 1832 and 1975: 3,229 Plantae, 2,488 Animalia, 1,815 Fungi, 137 Protozoa, 28 Chromista, 23 Unrecorded, 5 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), ?, A W Cheever 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
	Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald	1900	A. P. Chute
	Cornus sericea subsp. sericea	1832	Nathaniel T. Kidder	Milton, Brook Road
	Galium verum L.	1846	Kupell
	Calycanthus L.	1850	not recorded	Hort. Cantab. [presumably cultivated Hortus Cantabridgiensis, Botanical Garden Harvard University] e Georgia.
	Malvastrum A.Gray	1850	not recorded	Hort. Cantab. [=Hortus Cantabridgiensis, Botanical Garden Harvard University].
	Boerhavia Vaill. ex L.	1852	not recorded	Hort. Cantab. [Presumably cultivated Hortus Cantabridgiensis, Botanical Garden Harvard University].
	Amaranthus L.	1853	not recorded	Hort. Cantab. [=Cultivated Hortus Cantabridgiensis, Botanical Garden Harvard University].
	Anoda Cav.	1853	not recorded	Hort. Cantab. [=Hortus Cantabridgiensis, Botanical Garden Harvard University].
	Carex bullata Schkuhr	1853	Collector unknown	Houghtons Pond.
	Nyctaginaceae	1853	not recorded	Hort. Cantab. [Presumably cultivated Hortus Cantabridgiensis, Botanical Garden Harvard University].
	Carex albicans Willd. ex Spreng.	1854	W. Boott	West Quincy: Blue Hills Reservation, River Road
	Lamprocapnos Endl.	1854	not recorded	Hort. Cantab. [=Harvard University Botanic Gardens Cambridge, now Arnold Aboretum?]

All 7,725 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Canton: 7 past producers, 3 producers, 1 unknown, 1 occurrence. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Granite, Iron. 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

The National Weather Service names Canton in 3 storm reports between 2016 and 2025: 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 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.

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 612428. 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.