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

Framingham Center, Massachusetts

40 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Framingham City. It lies in ZIP code area 01702. It stands on Bare Hill. The Survey maps it on the Framingham quadrangle.

Framingham Center within Middlesex 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 Framingham Center, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Framingham Center, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

40 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 1908 county history

30,115 words on this township

The county history of 1908 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for the smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Framingham City covers the township.

Read the chapter on Framingham City - 30,115 words.

Fires nearby

142 since 1995

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 142 fires within 5 miles of Framingham Center between 1995 and 2020, burning about 111 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 7 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 burning56
Missing data/not specified/undetermined45
Recreation and ceremony14
Arson/incendiarism7
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Smoking4
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Other causes1
Fireworks1
Natural1

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
8 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
6 September 2019Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 September 2018Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 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 Middlesex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,062 shown

Museums hold 1,062 specimens collected within 10 miles of Framingham Center between 1898 and 1975: 814 Animalia, 176 Plantae, 68 Fungi, 4 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. F. Newton, A. L. Bosworth 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 Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 18221900not recordedWayland
A photograph of the species Actaea pachypoda, not of this specimenActaea pachypoda Elliott1898Ernest Charles Smith
A photograph of the species Antennaria howellii, not of this specimenAntennaria howellii subsp. canadensis (Greene) R.J.Bayer1898Williams, E.F.
A photograph of the species Antennaria parlinii, not of this specimenAntennaria parlinii subsp. fallax (Greene) R.J.Bayer & Stebbins1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Antennaria plantaginifolia, not of this specimenAntennaria plantaginifolia (L.) Hook.1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Aquilegia canadensis, not of this specimenAquilegia canadensis L.1898M. I. GunnNatick
A photograph of the species Agonopterix atrodorsella, not of this specimenAgonopterix atrodorsella Clemens, 18631900E. J. SmithSherborn
A photograph of the species Apantesis Walker, not of this specimenApantesis Walker, 18551900E. J. SmithSherborn
A photograph of the species Apatelodes torrefacta, not of this specimenApatelodes torrefacta J.E.Smith, 17971900E. J. SmithSherborn
Araiospora pulchra Thaxt.1900Thaxter, RolandStony Brook, Mass. [Massachusetts]
A photograph of the species Archips cerasivorana, not of this specimenArchips cerasivorana (Fitch, 1856)1900E. J. SmithSherborn
A photograph of the species Bleptina caradrinalis, not of this specimenBleptina caradrinalis Guenée, 18541900E. J. SmithSherborn

All 1,062 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 13 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Framingham Center: 9 past producers, 2 plants, 1 producer, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Iron, 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
Ashland QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Hawkridge Bros--Ashland, Ma.IronPlant
Panlini Loam CoPeatPast ProducerPeat
Trimount Bituminous ProdGranitePast ProducerGranite
Arthur Scofield PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Ashland PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPlant
Ashland PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Ashland Sand and Gravel CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Framington PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
New England Sand & Grv Co. Pit & PlSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Middlesex 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
Framingham1.7 miles40
Coburnville1.7 miles40
Nobscot2.2 miles40
Lokerville2.2 miles40
Saxonville2.8 miles40
Ashland2.9 miles40
Workmans Circle Camp3.3 miles41
West Natick3.4 miles40

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.

Wikidata item Q49350460The 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 611642. 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.