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

Florence, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Northampton City. It lies in ZIP code area 01062. It stands on Baker Hill. The Survey maps it on the Easthampton quadrangle.

Florence within Hampshire County

Then and now

1885 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Florence, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Florence, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

42 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 1898 county history

3,281 words on this township

The county history of 1898 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for the smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Northampton City covers the township.

Read the chapter on Northampton City - 3,281 words.

Fires nearby

81 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 81 fires within 5 miles of Florence between 2015 and 2020, burning about 42 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 4 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined30
Equipment and vehicle use19
Debris and open burning13
Recreation and ceremony9
Natural6
Arson/incendiarism4

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 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSylvio O. Conte National Wildlife RefugeMILL RV DIV MA-SCR #4
18 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSylvio O. Conte National Wildlife RefugeMILL RV DIV MA-SCR #3
17 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSylvio O. Conte National Wildlife RefugeMILL RV DIV MA-SCR #2
15 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSylvio O. Conte National Wildlife RefugeMILL RV DIV MA-SCR #1

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hampshire County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 6,374 shown

Museums hold 6,374 specimens collected within 10 miles of Florence between 1781 and 1975: 3,194 Plantae, 1,712 Fungi, 1,244 Animalia, 134 Chromista, 79 Protozoa, 10 Unrecorded, 1 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A V Osmun, A., A. Albee 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 Cercospora violae Sacc.Cercospora violae Sacc.1895Ralph E. SmithHothouse, Mass. Agr. College, Amherst
Specimen of Actias luna Linnaeus, 1758Actias luna Linnaeus, 17581896not recorded
Specimen of Plathemis lydia (Drury, 1773)Plathemis lydia (Drury, 1773)1896not recorded
A photograph of the species Carex argyrantha, not of this specimenCarex argyrantha Tuck. ex Dewey1781H. G. JesupAmherst in Hampshire Co., and Leverett in Franklin Co., Massachusetts. [Inferred counties from precise loc.]
A photograph of the species Carex foenea, not of this specimenCarex foenea Willd.1781H. G. JesupAnd Leverett
A photograph of the species Ustilago nuda, not of this specimenUstilago nuda (C.N.Jensen) Kellerm. & Swingle1810J.E. Humphrey
A photograph of the species Porella platyphylloidea, not of this specimenPorella platyphylloidea (Schwein.) Lindb.1822EmmonsNorwich
A photograph of the species Carex bromoides, not of this specimenCarex bromoides Willd.1831Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Ranunculus ambigens, not of this specimenRanunculus ambigens S.Watson1831S. Shurtleff
A photograph of the species Carex vesicaria, not of this specimenCarex vesicaria L.1836Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Carex vestita, not of this specimenCarex vestita Willd.1836Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Kalmia angustifolia, not of this specimenKalmia angustifolia f. angustifolia1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.

All 6,374 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 28 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 28 workings within 5 miles of Florence: 11 producers, 11 past producers, 4 occurrences, 2 prospects. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Brick Clay, Clay, Lead, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Argentine Galena VeinSilver, LeadOccurrenceGalena
Argentine Galena VeinLead, SilverProspect
Hatfield Lead MineBarium-Barite, Lead, ZincPast ProducerVein
Hatfield Lead MineBarium-Barite, Zinc, LeadProducerBarite, Galena, Sphalerite
Hatfield Lead MineBarium-Barite, Lead, ZincPast Producer
Loudville Lead MineLead, Silver, Zinc, Copper, Barium-BariteProducerBarite, Galena
Loudville MineBarium-Barite, Lead, Silica, Silver, ZincPast Producer
Whately - Williamsburg Lead VeinsLead, ManganeseOccurrenceGalena
Whately-Williamsburg Lead ProspectLead, ManganeseProspect
Wzorek PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Hampshire County

Storms nearby

8 since 2002

The National Weather Service names Florence in 8 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 2 hail, 2 lightning, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 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 2014LightningFlorence$1,000,000A lightning strike was determined to be the cause of a fire that destroyed a 6,500 square foot home on North Farms Road in Northampton.
May 2003LightningFlorence$80,000no account filed
May 2010Thunderstorm WindFlorence$8,000A large tree downed by thunderstorm winds fell on a house on Landy Avenue. The roof was damaged, but damage to the interior was limited and no one was injured.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindFlorence$300Tree down near Greeley Ave in Northampton. This was in Northampton.
July 2025Flash FloodFlorence-In Northampton a car was stuck in flooding at the intersection of Hillcrest Dr and Bridge Rd.
July 2025Flash FloodFlorence-In Northampton, a section of North Main St was closed due to flooding.
May 2017HailFlorence-At 607 PM EST, Hail at Florence was up to Nickel size.
July 2002HailFlorence-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hampshire 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
Bay State1.0 miles42
Northampton1.8 miles42
Leeds1.8 miles42
North Farms2.1 miles42
Laurel Park2.3 miles42
Pine Grove2.4 miles42
West Farms2.9 miles42
West Hatfield3.1 miles42

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 FlorenceAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q5460527The 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 608742. 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.