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

Chelmsford Center, Massachusetts

41 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Chelmsford town. It lies in ZIP code area 01824. It stands on Beaver Brook. The Survey maps it on the Billerica quadrangle.

Chelmsford Center within Middlesex County

Then and now

1886 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 102 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Chelmsford Center, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of Chelmsford Center, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

41 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.

Fires nearby

66 since 2002

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 66 fires within 5 miles of Chelmsford Center between 2002 and 2020, burning about 33 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 6 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined24
Debris and open burning21
Recreation and ceremony6
Arson/incendiarism6
Natural2
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Smoking2
Equipment and vehicle use1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Other causes1

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
6 September 2002Smokingunder an acreMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
26 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 August 2002Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
4 August 2002Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
18 August 2002Debris and open burning1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
17 August 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
17 August 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
17 August 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 746 shown

Museums hold 746 specimens collected within 10 miles of Chelmsford Center between 1898 and 1975: 454 Plantae, 193 Animalia, 66 Fungi, 29 Protozoa, 3 Chromista, 1 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. C. Mathieson, A. F. Newton 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
A photograph of the species Boletus griseus, not of this specimenBoletus griseus Frost1898H. Webster
A photograph of the species Exosporium pusillum, not of this specimenExosporium pusillum P.Karst.1898King C. A.Stony Brook
A photograph of the species Salix eriocephala, not of this specimenSalix eriocephala Michx.1898E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Antennaria howellii, not of this specimenAntennaria howellii subsp. neodioica (Greene) R.J.Bayer1899Williams, E.F.
A photograph of the species Antennaria neglecta, not of this specimenAntennaria neglecta Greene1899not recorded
A photograph of the species Aristida dichotoma, not of this specimenAristida dichotoma Michx.1899E. F. Williams
Arthrosporium compositum Ellis1899RorerEast Billerica
A photograph of the species Asarum canadense, not of this specimenAsarum canadense L.1899E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Bidens cernua, not of this specimenBidens cernua L.1899E. F. Williams
Araiospora pulchra Thaxt.1900Thaxter, R.Stony Brook
A photograph of the species Betula alleghaniensis, not of this specimenBetula alleghaniensis Britton1900E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Boletus frostii, not of this specimenBoletus frostii J.L.Russell1900A. W. Flint

All 746 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 23 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 23 workings within 5 miles of Chelmsford Center: 12 past producers, 7 producers, 4 plants. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Graphite. 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
Avaco Corp--Lowell, Ma.GraphitePlant
Chelmsford MillStone, Crushed/BrokenPlant
Stackpole Fibers Co--Lowell, Ma.GraphitePlant
West Chelmsford QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Fletcher Westford QuarryGraniteProducer
Forest Road QuarryGranitePast Producer
Guilmette Bros GraniteGranitePast ProducerGranite
H E Fletcher CoGranitePast ProducerGranite
Le Masurier Granite Quarry IncGranitePast ProducerGranite
Le Masurier Quarry and MillGraniteProducer

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms nearby

12 since 1998

The National Weather Service names Chelmsford Center in 12 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2006Thunderstorm WindChelmsford Center$75,000no account filed
March 2014FloodChelmsford Center$35,000Boston Road was closed near Brian Road due to flooding. A culvert clogged, resulting in backwater flooding and a subsequent collapse of the culvert and the nearby section of road. News reports indicated at least 1 flooded basement, and flood waters went into the backyards of some homes. This area of road was closed for several of days during repairs.
August 2003Flash FloodChelmsford Center$25,000no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindChelmsford Center$10,000no account filed
July 2005Thunderstorm WindChelmsford Center$5,000no account filed
August 2024Thunderstorm WindChelmsford Center$3,000In Chelmsford, a tree was down on a house on Gail St.
August 2018Thunderstorm WindChelmsford Center$3,000At 3:10 PM EST, a tree was reported down on wires at the intersection of Boston Road and Hazen Street in Chelmsford. Also at 3:10 PM EST, a tree was down on Bridge Street blocking half the road.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindChelmsford Center$500In Chelmsford, a tree was down on Acton Road at High Street.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindChelmsford Center$500In Chelmsford, a tree was down on the southbound side of Route 3.
July 2017FloodChelmsford Center-At 503 PM EST, in Chelmsford, Billerica Road near Turnpike Road was impassable due to flooding.
July 2004HailChelmsford Center-no account filed
May 1998HailChelmsford Center-no account filed

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
Chelmsford0.8 miles41
Westlands1.5 miles41
South Chelmsford2.1 miles43
Princeton Village2.4 miles48
Highlands2.5 miles48
Ward Corner2.6 miles43
Middlesex Village2.7 miles48
West Chelmsford2.9 miles43

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikidata item Q122593690The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 611778. 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.