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

Dorchester, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Boston City. It lies in ZIP code area 02124. It stands on Mount Bowdoin. The Survey maps it on the Boston South quadrangle.

Dorchester within Suffolk 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 Dorchester, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Dorchester, 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.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Boston city, in the words of 1894.

1894, Boston City

City Charter

IN giving some notices of manners and social life during this period, I shall speak first of usages which were characteristic of the close of the last century: most of them continued without essential modification until our city charter swept away the old landmarks, and Boston felt the im¬ pulses which mark a new epoch in her history.

Read the rest of this passage

Photographs

2 photographs,

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.

Milestones A, B, E, HHH, III & PPP, Various Dorchester locations, Dorchester, Suffolk County, MA
Milestones A, B, E, HHH, III & PPP, Various Dorchester locations, Dorchester, Suffolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress
Bird-Sawyer House, 41 Humphreys Street, Dorchester, Suffolk County, MA
Bird-Sawyer House, 41 Humphreys Street, Dorchester, Suffolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Fires nearby

107 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 107 fires within 5 miles of Dorchester between 2015 and 2020, burning about 78 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 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
Recreation and ceremony70
Smoking18
Missing data/not specified/undetermined14
Equipment and vehicle use2
Arson/incendiarism2
Debris and open burning1

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
23 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBROOKLINE
2 September 2017Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY
14 September 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY
11 September 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY
10 September 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY
7 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Suffolk County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 15,589 shown

Museums hold 15,589 specimens collected within 10 miles of Dorchester between 1810 and 1975: 6,804 Plantae, 4,194 Fungi, 3,454 Animalia, 687 Chromista, 202 Protozoa, 167 Bacteria, 81 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), ?, A B Seymour 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 Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) FernaldLysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald1900A. P. Chute
A photograph of the species Thalictrum L., not of this specimenThalictrum L.1810Boott, J.W.Near Boston.
A photograph of the species Anemone L., not of this specimenAnemone L.1815Boott, J.Andover Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Betula L., not of this specimenBetula L.1815Boott, J.W.Near Fresh Pond, Cambridge, 4 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Chenopodium album, not of this specimenChenopodium album L.1815not recordedGathered at Bunker (properly Breed's) Hill.
A photograph of the species Corylus L., not of this specimenCorylus L.1815not recordedCambridge Port, 2 miles from Boston.
Ericaceae1815BoottBoston, U.S.A.
Acanthis flammea flammea (Linnaeus, 1758)1900ZAPPEY, W RROSLINDALE
Acer carpinifolium Siebold & Zucc.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
Acer palmatum var. dissectum (Thunb.) Miq.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
Agaricus flavescens (Gillet) Sacc.1900G. E. Morris
Agarum turneri Postels & Ruprecht1900J. MurdochRevere

All 15,589 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

4 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Dorchester: 3 plants, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Iron, Lead, Perlite. 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
General Metals & Smelting--BostonLeadPlant
Us Steel Supply Div--BostonIronPlant
West Roxbury Crushed Stone OperatioStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Whittemore Prdts Inc--BostonPerlitePlant

Every working recorded in Suffolk County

Storms nearby

15 since 2000

The National Weather Service names Dorchester in 15 storm reports between 2000 and 2020: 6 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 1 lightning, 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
July 2012LightningDorchester$50,000Lightning struck a three story house on Milton Avenue, setting fire to the attic. There were no injuries, but several people were displaced.
October 2017FloodDorchester$15,000At 340 AM EST, a section of Boylston Street in Brookline was flooded. At 353 AM EST, Morton Street in Boston was closed due to flooding, with three cars trapped.
August 2017Flash FloodDorchester$10,000At 520 PM EST the Woodrow Avenue Railroad Bridge underpass in Mattapan was flooded with cars trapped in the waters.
February 2016Thunderstorm WindDorchester$10,000A tree was downed onto a house in Dorchester by thunderstorm winds.
August 2005Thunderstorm WindDorchester$8,000no account filed
July 2016Thunderstorm WindDorchester$5,000A tree at the intersection of Bicknell and Harvard Streets was downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindDorchester$1,000A large tree was downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindDorchester$300In Boston, power lines were down at the intersection of Milton Avenue and Rockwell Street.
May 2010HailDorchester-Quarter size hail fell on Doris Street in Savin Hill.
June 2010HailDorchester-Penny size hail covered the ground.
August 2008HailDorchester-Penny to nickel size hail fell in Dorchester.
June 2013HailDorchester-no account filed
June 2012HailDorchester-no account filed
June 2006HailDorchester-no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindDorchester-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Suffolk 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
Dorchester Center0.4 miles46
Mount Bowdoin0.5 miles46
Mount Ida0.8 miles46
Fields Corner0.9 miles46
Meeting House Hill0.9 miles46
Grove Hall1.0 miles46
Ashmont1.0 miles46
Savin Hill1.4 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612904. 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.