BlockBefore

Douglas, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Douglas town. It lies in ZIP code area 01516. It stands on Dudley Brook. The Survey maps it on the Uxbridge quadrangle.

Douglas within Worcester County

Then and now

1886 to 1989

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.

Topographic sheet of Douglas, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Douglas, surveyed 1886

On record in Douglas

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 3 records

Surveyed buildings and structures 1 record

Topographic sheets covering this place

20 surveys from 46 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

16,799 words on this township

History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Douglas Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

There was also living within this territory at that time two, and perhaps three, white families, whose farms were reserved and confirmed to them when the several grants and purchases were made from the General Court. One, a Mr. Simon Chamberlin, owned and lived on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres located southwesterlj' of what is known as the Ministerial or Minister's Lot, and nearly in the centre of what is now known as the " Douglas Woods," and south of the Thompson Road. The location is well known from the fact that it embraced within its limits what is now known as " Chamberlin Pond." In the three thousand seven hundred acre grant was the Aldrich farm of two hundred acres. This farm was located in the extreme south part of the town, and is now owned by Retus Walling and Jesse Chase ; is westerly of the " Providence Turnpike Road," and southerly from the Mowry K. Thayer place, and was owned by a Mr. Edwin Aldrich, who was the lather of Jacob Aldrich, who was the father of Amariali Aldrich, who was born here. The place is now covered with a heavy growth of wood and timber. Many of the present residents of Douglas well remember Amariah Aldrich, some of whose descendants are still with us. The"Streeter Farm," situated on the Webster Road, is another farm occupied liy the father of Asa Streeter when the first grant was made of four thousand acres.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.

These several grants were located as follows : The 4000 acre grant embraced within its limits Douglas Centre and what is called the west part of the town. The southwest corner of this tract is at what is known as " Bear Corner," a large heap of stones, about sixty rods south of the Cold Spring on the Thompson Road. This Bear Corner is one of the oldest landmarks in town. It marks the southwest corner of the 4000 acre grant, the southeast corner of the lot of the twenty proprietors of Douglas, the southeast corner of the minister's lot, which was included in the twenty proprietors, the northeast corner of the " Boston Men's Farms " and the northwest corner of a part of the 3000 acre grant. From this point the line runs northwest 800 rods, passing a little west of Badluck Cedar Swamp to a point near the old Bailey place ; thence easterly to a point in Sutton south line on the north line of land formerly of Micah Hill ; thence southerly to a point in the south line of land formerly of Dr. Wm. Douglas; thence westerly to first bound. The 3700 acre purchase grant was located in the southeast part of the territory granted (now the southeast part of the town), bounded south on the province line and east on Mendon line (now Uxbridge), and contained 3G03 acres besides the 200 acre Aldrich farm.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.

The 3000 acre grant was located in two tracts - one of 1101 acres was located on the north side of the 8700 acre tract, and between that and the 1000 acre tract bought by Dr. William Douglas and others, described further on ; and 1900 acres, the remainder of the 3000 acre grant, was located west of the 3700 acre grant, was bounded on the province line, and included the north end of Wallum Pond within its limits and extended north to Bear Corner.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., 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 Douglas Town - it names this place 51 more 51 times.

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.

Whitinsville Brick Mill, Forge, 56 Douglas Road, Northbridge, Worcester County, MA
Whitinsville Brick Mill, Forge, 56 Douglas Road, Northbridge, Worcester County, MA
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Lovett Bridge, Spanning Mumford River, Douglas, Worcester County, MA
Lovett Bridge, Spanning Mumford River, Douglas, Worcester County, MA
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

40 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 40 fires within 5 miles of Douglas between 2007 and 2020, burning about 27 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 burning11
Arson/incendiarism6
Recreation and ceremony6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Smoking5
Equipment and vehicle use3
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 September 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
19 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
1 September 2007Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresRhode Island Division of Forest Environmentnot named
4 August 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 July 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 July 2007Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
21 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder 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 505 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 505 specimens collected within 10 miles of Douglas between 1844 and 1974: 225 Plantae, 216 Animalia, 47 Fungi, 10 Protozoa, 4 Chromista, 3 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. R. Hodgdon; F. L. Steele, A. R. Hodgdon; F. L. Steele 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 Chilonectria coryli (Fuckel) Ellis & Everh.Chilonectria coryli (Fuckel) Ellis & Everh.1896Henderson
Specimen of Coryneum pulvinatum KunzeCoryneum pulvinatum Kunze1897D. Murray
A photograph of the species Trichophorum planifolium, not of this specimenTrichophorum planifolium (Spreng.) Palla1844Collector unspecifiedUxbridge
A photograph of the species Carex vesicaria, not of this specimenCarex vesicaria L.1848J. W. Robbins
A photograph of the species Potamogeton epihydrus, not of this specimenPotamogeton epihydrus Raf.1848J. W. RobbinsUxbridge
A photograph of the species Potamogeton bicupulatus, not of this specimenPotamogeton bicupulatus Fernald1854W. J. RobbinsUxbridge
A photograph of the species Carex brevior, not of this specimenCarex brevior (Dewey) Mack.1855J. W. Robbins
A photograph of the species Carex normalis, not of this specimenCarex normalis Mack.1855J. W. Robbins
A photograph of the species Carex siccata, not of this specimenCarex siccata Dewey1855J. W. Robbins
A photograph of the species Carex straminea, not of this specimenCarex straminea Willd. ex Schkuhr1855J. W. Robbins
A photograph of the species Hyla versicolor, not of this specimenHyla versicolor LeConte, 18251857Weinland, David Friedrich
Sterna hirundo hirundo Linnaeus, 17581892Babbitt, J PMassachusetts

All 505 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 18 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Douglas: 14 past producers, 2 producers, 1 unknown, 1 prospect. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Lead, Zinc. 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
Uxbridge ProspectLead, ZincProspect
QuarryGranitePast Producer
QuarryGranitePast Producer
Barnett Road PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Direnzo Brothers Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Douglas PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gilbon Mountain PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Guiou PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Hutnak Construction CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Johnson PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms near this place

12 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Douglas in 12 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 lightning, 2 hail, 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 2018Tornado (EF1)East Douglas$25,000At 132 AM EST, a tornado touched down near Maple Street in East Douglas and moved northeast through extreme northwest Uxbridge to southern Northbridge, where it lifted near Northbridge Middle School. The tornado was on the ground for 4.4 miles. The path width reached a maximum of 200 yards in East Douglas. Wind speeds were estimated at 100 mph. The tornado was an EF-1 in East Douglas, and then an EF-0 in Uxbridge and Northbridge.
July 2008LightningDouglas$15,000A house on Vine Street was struck by lightning and caught fire.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindDouglas$10,000no account filed
August 2019Thunderstorm WindEast Douglas$1,300In the eastern portion of Douglas, a tree was down on Martin Road. Other downed trees were scattered about the town of Douglas.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindDouglas$1,000In Douglas, a large tree was reported down on South Street near SW Main Street.
June 2017LightningDouglas$1,000At 740 PM EST, a house was struck by lightning on Main Street in Douglas.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindDouglas$300In Douglas, a tree was down at the intersection of Arch Street and Walnut Street.
July 2023FloodEast Douglas-In Douglas, Gilboa Rd has significant street flooding.
July 2015HailEast Douglas-no account filed
August 2008HailDouglas-no account filed
May 2003Heavy RainDouglas-no account filed
June 1998Flash FloodDouglas-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
East Douglas Station1.6 miles46
East Douglas1.9 miles46
Tasseltop2.5 miles46
Manchaug2.8 miles46
South Sutton3.5 miles46
Halfway House3.7 miles46
Prentice Corner4.5 miles46
Lakeview Heights4.6 miles43

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 610977. 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.