Dedham, 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

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 6 records

• Fairbanks HouseNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
• Norfolk County CourthouseNational Historic Landmark · listed 1972
• Ames Schoolhouselisted 1983
• Dedham Village Historic Districtlisted 2006
• Endicott Estatelisted 2002
• Mother Brook Lower Mill Pond Historic Districtlisted 2025

Surveyed buildings and structures 8 records

• Allin Congregational Church, High Street, Dedhamfederal building survey, 1 photograph
• Edward M. Richards House, Highland Avenue, Dedhamfederal building survey, 7 photographs
• Fisher-Whiting House, 218 Cedar Street, Dedhamfederal building survey, 10 photographs
• Jonathan Fairbanks House, 511 East Street, Dedhamfederal building survey, 25 photographs
• Norfolk Manufacturing Company Cotton Mill, 90 Milton Street, Dedhamfederal building survey, 21 photographs
• Powder House, 162 Ames Street, Dedhamfederal building survey, 2 photographs
• Samuel Haven House, 669 High Street, Dedhamfederal building survey, 2 photographs
• Spring Street Bridge, Spanning Charles River between Dedham & Boston, Dedhamfederal building survey, 4 photographs

Businesses named in the fire insurance atlases 12 of 33 shown

• Methodist ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1903 to 1909
• Avery SchoolSchool, in the atlas of 1892 to 1917
• St. John's Catholic ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1892 to 1903
• Baptist Church, at Bast DedhamChurch, in the atlas of 1892 to 1897
• Congreg. Church, at IslingtonChurch, in the atlas of 1897 to 1903
• Norfolk HotelHotel, in the atlas of 1892 to 1903
• Orthodox ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1892 to 1897
• Savings Bank BlockBank, in the atlas of 1892 to 1897
• Ames SchoolSchool, in the atlas of 1903
• Boston Ice CoIce House, in the atlas of 1903
• Congregational ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1917
• Dexter SchoolSchool, in the atlas of 1917

Every atlas business in Norfolk County

Dedham grew from 24,729 to 25,364 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.

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, 10 printings
• 1919 USGS Dedham quadrangle1:62500
• 1936 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:24000
• 1941 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:31680, 3 printings
• 1943 USGS Boston quadrangle1:125000
• 1946 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:24000
• 1947 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:25000
• 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
• 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1958 USGS Norwood quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
• 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 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, 2 printings
• 1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884 names this settlement in its chapter on Dedham Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

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.

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 164 fires within 5 miles of Dedham between 2003 and 2020, burning about 428 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.

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:

• Ashcroft
• Endicott
• Greenlodge
• Oakdale
• Readville Manor
• East Dedham

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 15,299 specimens collected within 10 miles of Dedham between 1815 and 1975: 5,905 Plantae, 4,742 Fungi, 4,066 Animalia, 292 Protozoa, 192 Chromista, 65 Unrecorded, 37 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), ?, ? ex Herb. W.G. Farlow 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
	Araiospora pulchra Thaxt.	1900	R. Thaxter	Stony Brook
	Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald	1900	A. P. Chute
	Corydalis Vent.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Worcester turnpike, 6 miles from Boston.
	Corylus L.	1815	not recorded	Cambridge Port, 2 miles from Boston.
	Ericaceae	1815	Boott	Boston, U.S.A.
	Hepatica Mill.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Sweet Auburn.
	Limonium vulgare Mill.	1815	not recorded	On Cragies Road [=near Cragies Bridge], 1 1/2 miles from Boston.
	Mollugo verticillata L.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Boston.
	Nuphar Sm.	1815	Boott, J.W.	Worcester Turnpike 6 miles from Boston.
	Populus L.	1815	not recorded	Cambridgeport, 1 mile from Boston.
	Ranunculus L.	1815	not recorded	Thicket at South Boston.
	Salix L.	1815	not recorded	Cambridge, 3 1/2 miles from Boston.

All 15,299 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Dedham: 3 past producers, 2 producers, 2 unknowns. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Dedham in 6 storm reports between 1999 and 2023: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, 1 heavy rain, 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.

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.

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.

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612438. 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.