BlockBefore

Clinton, Massachusetts

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Clinton town. It lies in ZIP code area 01510. It lies near Rattlesnake Hill. The Survey maps it on the Clinton quadrangle. 8,166 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 367 feet above sea level.

Clinton within Worcester County

Then and now

1887 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 110 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Clinton, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Clinton, surveyed 1887

Compare 1887 against another survey:

On record in Clinton

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 11 records

Businesses named in the fire insurance atlases 11 records

Population over time

2 figures

Clinton grew from 7,389 to 8,166 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20107,389
20208,166+777 (+11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

20 surveys from 43 printed 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 county-history sources

31,637 words on this township

History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Clinton Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

A by-path very early connected Prescott's Mills with the county highway leading to Washacum and westward. Widened and otherwise altered at various dates, this is yet in use and known as the Rigby road. This name does not appear attached to it in old records, but the brooklet which it crosses in Clinton was called Rigby's Brook before 1718. What connection the cross-road or the stream had with John Rigby, who was one of the pioneer settlers of Lancaster, or with his heirs, has not been discovered. No family of the name is mentioned in the town lists since 1700, but a very old house which stood upon this road in the early years of this century was commonly known as the Rigby place.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.

In the surprise and massacre by the Indians, September 22, 1697, and in the attack by the French and Indians of July 31, 1704, no loss of life or property at Prescott's Mills was reported, though this, it would seem, must have been one of the six fortified posts said to have been assailed. The men belonging to this garrison in 1704 were John Prescott, his two sons, John and Ebenezer, and John Keyes, the weaver, three of whom were married men with little families. By a report of an inspection of garrisons ordered by Governor Dudley, in November, 1711, we learn that there were at that time but three families at the Mills, including four males of military age, besides two soldiers billeted there - fifteen souls in all. This may be called the earliest census of Clinton. For half a century the householders in this neighborhood had numbered no more, and no less ; for half a century more the accessions hardly trebled this population. Along the roads leading westward, to Leominster, to Woonksechocksett, (now Sterling,) to Boylston, and to "Shrewsbury Leg," farms were cleared, humble dwellings arose, children were born, grew to manhood, migrated, and themselves set up roof-trees farther west ; but at Prescott's Mills all remained apparently as when the fathers fell asleep.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.

Along the old county highway which leads from Bolton to Boylston, where it winds about among the rocky hills east of the Nashua in Clinton, a few farms were tilled many years before the Revolution. Here lived Lieutenant Thomas Tucker ; Thomas Wilder, the son of John, and his son Jonathan ; Simon Butler, and the late John Pollard. Philip Larkin and his soldier sons had homes to th« southeast from Clamshell Pond. Thomas Tucker acquired his lands through Capt. Thomas Wilder in 1716, and probably built his house li«re about the date of his marriage, in 1719. He transferretl his iarra to his son William in 1757. In 1788 James Fuller bought the southerly portion of the tract, and in 1798 the homestead came into possession of Charles Chace, from Bellingham, whose descendants have prominent place in the annals of Clinton. The Tucker family had then disappeared from Lancaster. Upon the other farms named, sons built near the fathers, and family names clung to the estates far into the present century. Now, however, but one lineal descendant of any of these old families - the venerable Frederick Wilder - dwells in this section of the town.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Clinton Town - it names this place 96 more 96 times.

Fires near this place

99 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 99 fires within 5 miles of Clinton between 2004 and 2020, burning about 121 acres in total. None 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
Debris and open burning45
Recreation and ceremony24
Missing data/not specified/undetermined15
Arson/incendiarism6
Smoking4
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Equipment and vehicle use2

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
7 September 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
20 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 September 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
14 September 2016Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
12 September 2016Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
10 August 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
1 August 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder 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 near this place

12 of 1,677 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,677 specimens collected within 10 miles of Clinton between 1858 and 1974: 1,099 Animalia, 293 Plantae, 270 Fungi, 6 Unrecorded, 5 Chromista, 4 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. C. Gibson, A. Ferrett, A. G. Chandler 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 Chrysosplenium americanum Schwein. ex Hook.Chrysosplenium americanum Schwein. ex Hook.1899E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Quercus velutina, not of this specimenQuercus velutina Lam.1858E. S. HoarRoad to Marlboro, Concord.
A photograph of the species Condylura cristata, not of this specimenCondylura cristata cristata (Linnaeus, 1758)1859E S WheelerBERLIN
A photograph of the species Dryobates pubescens, not of this specimenDryobates pubescens medianus (Swainson, 1832)1861not recordedBolton
Clemmys insculpta Fitzinger, 18351864Agassiz
A photograph of the species Bromus sterilis, not of this specimenBromus sterilis L.1879C. E. Faxon
A photograph of the species Merulius lacrymans, not of this specimenMerulius lacrymans (Wulfen) Schumach.1879Howes, A.Massachusetts
A photograph of the species Potamogeton vaseyi, not of this specimenPotamogeton vaseyi J.W.Robbins1880Faxon, C. E.
A photograph of the species Icterus galbula, not of this specimenIcterus galbula (Linnaeus, 1758)1881G. L. BrighamBolton
Nitella megacarpa (T.F.A.) R.D.W.1881T. F. AllenNashua River
Arthuriomyces peckianus (Howe) Cummins & Y.Hirats.1892W. B. Hosmer
A photograph of the species Castilleja coccinea, not of this specimenCastilleja coccinea (L.) Spreng.1892E. C. SmithMarboro.

All 1,677 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 19 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Clinton: 13 past producers, 5 producers, 1 prospect. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Dimension, Peat. 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
Berlin Stone Co QuarryStone, DimensionProducer
Sterling Peat CoPeatPast ProducerPeat
Sterling ProspectIron, ZincProspect
Gneiss QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Pandolf QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Bates Sand and Gravel Co.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Berin PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Berlin PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Berlin Town PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Bolton PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms near this place

12 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Clinton in 12 storm reports between 1999 and 2021: 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 lightning, 1 funnel cloud. 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
August 2016Thunderstorm WindClinton$15,000Multiple trees and power lines on Prescott Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2021Tornado (EF0)Clinton$12,000A weak tornado touched down in the early afternoon in the town of |Clinton in eastern Worcester County, Massachusetts. A NWS |meteorologist conducted a storm survey following tips from amateur |radio operators and the local fire chief. The following information |summarizes all of the reports. ||The tornado touched down near the intersection of Cedar Street and |Church Street. It tracked northeastward, impacting Benefit Street, |Haskell Avenue, and Water Street at Beech Street. This is a path |length of 0.5 miles. The approximate path width was 35 yards. Damage |photos led to estimates of maximum wind speeds of 75 to 80 mph, |which is an EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The time, based on |radar and eyewitness accounts, was from 130 PM to 131 PM EDT. ||A row of trees was snapped and downed in a convergent fashion near |Church Street at Cedar Street. Other trees were downed on Haskell |Avenue at Beech Street. The fire chief relayed that multiple |residents witnessed a tornado touchdown on Water Street, where |extensive damage was observed.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindClinton$5,000In Clinton, trees and wires were down on a car on Parker Street.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindClinton$5,000In Clinton, power lines were down on California Court at Beacon Street. Also, power lines were down elsewhere on Beacon Street and on Route 110. Trees and wires were down on a car on Parker Street.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindClinton$1,000Large limbs were downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindClinton$500In Clinton, a tree was down on Chestnut Street.
July 2021HailClinton-In Clinton, quarter size hail was reported.
June 2017HailClinton-At 310 PM EST, an amateur radio operator reported nickel-size hail at Clinton.
July 2010Funnel CloudClinton-A funnel cloud was sighted on Route 70.
June 2008HailClinton-Penny to nickel size hail fell in Clinton.
July 2008HailClinton-no account filed
July 1999LightningClinton-no account filed

Every storm 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
Duck Harbor (historical)0.3 miles43
Fullerville (historical)0.7 miles43
Ebenville1.8 miles43
South Lancaster1.9 miles43
Boylston2.0 miles43
Five Corners2.1 miles43
Seventh Day Adventist Village2.1 miles43
West Berlin2.3 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.

Wikipedia article on ClintonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q5134047The 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 610841. 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.