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

Central Square, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Woburn City. It lies in ZIP code area 01801. It stands on Rag Rock Hill. The Survey maps it on the Lexington quadrangle.

Central Square within Middlesex County

Then and now

1893 to 1989

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.

Topographic sheet of Central Square, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Central Square, surveyed 1893

Topographic sheets covering this place

46 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.

In the 1908 county history

48,923 words on this township

The county history of 1908 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for the smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Woburn City covers the township.

Read the chapter on Woburn City - 48,923 words.

Fires nearby

61 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 61 fires within 5 miles of Central Square between 2015 and 2020, burning about 100 acres in total. None started naturally. 27 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
Arson/incendiarism27
Missing data/not specified/undetermined12
Recreation and ceremony10
Debris and open burning8
Equipment and vehicle use2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
22 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 September 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMELROSE
18 September 2015Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMELROSE
5 August 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMEDFORD
5 August 2015Arson/incendiarism6.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMEDFORD
30 August 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMEDFORD
30 August 2015Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMEDFORD
28 August 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMEDFORD

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,469 shown

Museums hold 1,469 specimens collected within 10 miles of Central Square between 1898 and 1975: 644 Animalia, 491 Plantae, 294 Fungi, 17 Bacteria, 9 Unrecorded, 9 Protozoa, 5 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A B. Proper 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 Trientalis borealis Raf.Trientalis borealis Raf.1900A. P. Chute
Aglaospora profusa (Fr.) De Not.1898Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Cantharellus infundibuliformis, not of this specimenCantharellus infundibuliformis (Scop.) Fr.1898not recordedMelrose.
A photograph of the species Cladonia coccifera, not of this specimenCladonia coccifera (L.) Willd.1898Francis P DanielsCambridge
A photograph of the species Cladonia rangiferina, not of this specimenCladonia rangiferina (L.) Weber1898Francis P DanielsArlington Heights
A photograph of the species Cordyceps capitata, not of this specimenCordyceps capitata (Holmsk.) Link1898Conant, [?] F.Middlesex Fells
A photograph of the species Ctenidium malacodes, not of this specimenCtenidium malacodes Mitt.1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Cucurbitaria elongata, not of this specimenCucurbitaria elongata (Fr.) Grev.1898J. G. Hall
A photograph of the species Acer carpinifolium, not of this specimenAcer carpinifolium Siebold & Zucc.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
A photograph of the species Acer palmatum, not of this specimenAcer palmatum var. dissectum (Thunb.) Miq.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
A photograph of the species Agaricus brunnescens, not of this specimenAgaricus brunnescens Peck1900Morris, G. E.Waltham
A photograph of the species Aphanochaete repens, not of this specimenAphanochaete repens A.Braun1900F. S. CollinsMiddlesex Fells, Wright's Pond, on Oedogonium, etc.

All 1,469 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 17 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 17 workings within 5 miles of Central Square: 10 past producers, 4 producers, 3 plants. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Peat, Clay. 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
Austin Hastings--Woburn, Ma.IronPlant
Dynamet Tech--Burlington, Ma.TitaniumPlant
Ferro Ceramic Grinding--WakefieldSilicaPlant
Mahoney:S Rocky LedgePeatPast ProducerPeat
Rocky Ledge PitClayPast Producer
Marlborough Plant/Polishing PlatesStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Roma Stone PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Burlington S & G Co., Inc. PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Burlington Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
D R RaymondSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms nearby

2 since 2017

The National Weather Service names Central Square in 2 storm reports between 2017 and 2017: 2 thunderstorm wind. 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
June 2017Thunderstorm WindCentral Square$6,000At 109 PM EST, a tree was down on a car on High Street in Woburn.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindCentral Square$1,500At 107 PM EST, a tree and wires were down at Prospect and High Streets in Woburn.

Every storm recorded in Middlesex 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
Woburn0.8 miles46
Mishawum0.9 miles41
Walnut Hill1.2 miles46
North Woburn1.2 miles41
Woburn Highlands1.3 miles46
Cummingsville1.4 miles46
Winnmere1.6 miles46
Montvale1.7 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612153. 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.