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

Chester, Massachusetts

36 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Chester town. It lies in ZIP code area 01011. It stands on Walker Brook. The Survey maps it on the Chester quadrangle.

Chester within Hampden County

Then and now

1886 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 111 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Chester, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Chester, surveyed 1886

Compare 1886 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

36 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

6 since 2016

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Chester between 2016 and 2018, burning about 26 acres in total. None 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.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning2
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Recreation and ceremony1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

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
29 August 2017Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
29 July 2017Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
17 June 2018Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 April 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
31 March 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined18 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
12 March 2016Debris and open burning5.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hampden County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 314 shown

Museums hold 314 specimens collected within 10 miles of Chester between 1822 and 1975: 225 Animalia, 67 Plantae, 22 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Pealey, Ahles, H.E., Andrew J. Main 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 Porella platyphylloidea, not of this specimenPorella platyphylloidea (Schwein.) Lindb.1822EmmonsNorwich
A photograph of the species Panax quinquefolius, not of this specimenPanax quinquefolius L.1831Collector unspecifiedBlandford
A photograph of the species Buteo platypterus, not of this specimenButeo platypterus (Vieillot, 1823)1870Crum, Milo Tuttle; Clinton Mellen Jones CollectionRussell
A photograph of the species Poecile atricapillus, not of this specimenPoecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766)1870Clinton Mellen Jones CollectionRussell
A photograph of the species Lygodium palmatum, not of this specimenLygodium palmatum (Bernh.) Sw.1872Miller, E.S.East Hampton
A photograph of the species Eleusine indica, not of this specimenEleusine indica (L.) Gaertn.1874Frederick N. Pease
A photograph of the species Leucobryum glaucum, not of this specimenLeucobryum glaucum (Hedw.) Ångstr.1877H. J. BiddlecomeChester
A photograph of the species Botrychium dissectum, not of this specimenBotrychium dissectum Spreng.1879not recorded
A photograph of the species Puccinia recondita, not of this specimenPuccinia recondita Roberge ex Desm.1885Mason Frank C. Mrs.Huntington
A photograph of the species Dendroica discolor, not of this specimenDendroica discolor discolor (Vieillot, 1809)1891Clarence WatrousChester
Dendroica virens virens (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)1891Henry BennettChester
Carabus limbatus Say, 18231897Knab, Frederick (1865-1918)Montgomery

All 314 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 28 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 28 workings within 5 miles of Chester: 11 past producers, 9 occurrences, 8 producers. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Silica, Emery, Iron, Granite. 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
Chester PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Chrome-Magnetite MineIron, ChromiumPast Producer
Sackett Emery MineIron, EmeryOccurrence1875
Berkshire QuarryGraniteProducer
Soapstone QuarryTalc-SoapstoneProducerMetamorphic
Soapstone QuarryTalc-SoapstonePast Producer
Williams Stone CoGranitePast ProducerGranite
Sackett Emery MineIronPast ProducerMagnetite
Sackett Emery MineIron, EmeryPast Producer
Chrome-Magnetite MineEmeryOccurrenceEmery

Every working recorded in Hampden County

Storms nearby

26 since 1994

The National Weather Service names Chester in 26 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 12 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 4 flood, 3 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
February 2016FloodChester$50,000Portions of Abbott Hill Road were washed away. One mile north of Old Chester Road, a portion of Skyline Trail was washed out.
August 2017Flash FloodChester$20,000At 145 PM EST, an amateur radio operator reported that Round Hill Road in Chester was washed out to a depth of two feet and impassable due to flooding.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindChester$15,000Two large limbs were downed by thunderstorm winds on Skyline Trail, between 1500 and 1600 feet.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindChester$10,000Trees were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2021Flash FloodNorth Chester$7,000In Chester, flash flooding caused a portion of Skyline Trail to be washed out.
September 2016Thunderstorm WindChester$5,000A tree was downed onto Route 20 by thunderstorm winds.
September 2016Thunderstorm WindChester$5,000A tree was downed onto Skyline Trail by thunderstorm winds.
August 2016Thunderstorm WindChester$5,000A tree on Hill Road was downed by thunderstorm winds.
May 2009Thunderstorm WindChester$2,000Trees were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindChester$1,000In Chester, a gust to 62 mph was recorded at a private backyard weather station. Amateur radio operators also reported trees and wires down on several streets in Chester.
July 2025Flash FloodChester-In Chester, Abbot Hill Rd at Taft Rd was flooded. Railroad tracks on Prospect St were flooded and the underpass was partially washed out.
July 2023FloodChester-In Chester, Blandford Rd at Rt 20 was closed due to flooding.
August 2011FloodChester-After receiving roughly four inches of rain with Tropical Storm Irene, Walker Brook overflowed its banks, flooding Route 20 in Chester.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindChester-Large tree limbs down.
July 1994Thunderstorm WindChester-Large trees were reported blown down causing power outages.
July 2014HailChester-no account filed
May 2012HailChester-no account filed
July 2008HailChester-no account filed
September 2008HailChester-no account filed
July 2004HailChester-no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindChester-no account filed
June 2001HailChester-no account filed
July 2001HailChester-no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindChester-no account filed
July 1997Thunderstorm WindChester-no account filed
June 1996FloodChester-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hampden 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
Chester Center3.0 miles36
North Chester4.1 miles36
Dayville4.2 miles36
Littleville4.7 miles36
North Blandford4.8 miles36
Blandford7.3 miles36
Crescent Mills7.5 miles37
Russell8.8 miles37

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 608286. 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.