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

Ellis, Massachusetts

41 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Westwood town. It lies in ZIP code area 02090. It stands on Plantingfield Brook. The Survey maps it on the Norwood quadrangle.

Ellis within Norfolk 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 Ellis, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Ellis, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

41 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

156 since 2003

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 156 fires within 5 miles of Ellis between 2003 and 2020, burning about 400 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
Recreation and ceremony61
Missing data/not specified/undetermined50
Smoking33
Debris and open burning8
Equipment and vehicle use4

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
9 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlDOVER
6 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWESTWOOD
3 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlDEDHAM
22 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 September 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlDEDHAM
18 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
17 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlDEDHAM

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 13,540 shown

Museums hold 13,540 specimens collected within 10 miles of Ellis between 1815 and 1975: 4,918 Animalia, 4,778 Plantae, 3,444 Fungi, 230 Protozoa, 96 Chromista, 50 Unrecorded, 24 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 SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Hypoprepia fucosa Hübner, 1831Hypoprepia fucosa Hübner, 18311900not recordedSherborn
Specimen of Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) FernaldLysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald1900A. P. Chute
A photograph of the species Corydalis Vent., not of this specimenCorydalis Vent.1815Boott, F.M.B.Worcester turnpike, 6 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Corylus L., not of this specimenCorylus L.1815Boott, F.M.B.Worcester Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Nuphar Sm., not of this specimenNuphar Sm.1815Boott, J.W.Worcester Turnpike 6 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Sassafras J.Presl, not of this specimenSassafras J.Presl1815Boott, F.M.B.Worcester Turnpike, 6 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Thalictrum L., not of this specimenThalictrum L.1815not recordedWorcester Turnpike.
A photograph of the species Viola L., not of this specimenViola L.1815Boott, J.W.Worcester Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston, U.S.A. [Identical locality information is written on the reverse of the sheet.]
A photograph of the species Alnus Mill., not of this specimenAlnus Mill.1816not recordedBrighton, 4 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Aquilegia L., not of this specimenAquilegia L.1816not recordedBrighton 3½ miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Bartramia pomiformis, not of this specimenBartramia pomiformis Hedw.1832C. E. Cummings
A photograph of the species Cornus sericea, not of this specimenCornus sericea subsp. sericea1832Nathaniel T. KidderMilton, Brook Road

All 13,540 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

7 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Ellis: 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.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Hopkinton QuarryGraniteProducer
Walpole QuarryStonePast Producer
West Roxbury Crushed Stone OperatioStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Canton PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Canton Pit & PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Greendale PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Town of NeedhamSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Norfolk 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
Islington0.7 miles41
Norwood1.4 miles41
Westwood1.8 miles41
Greenlodge1.8 miles41
Endicott2.2 miles41
Dedham2.3 miles41
Ashcroft2.6 miles41
Readville Manor2.7 miles41

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 617627. 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.