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

Ipswich, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Ipswich town. It lies in ZIP code area 01938. It stands on Kimball Brook. The Survey maps it on the Ipswich quadrangle. 4,370 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 26 feet above sea level.

Ipswich within Essex County

Population over time

2 figures

Ipswich grew from 4,222 to 4,370 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Year	People	Change
2010	4,222
2020	4,370	+148 (+4%)

Then and now

1888 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 109 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Ipswich, surveyed 1997

Topographic sheet of Ipswich, surveyed 1888

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.

Photographs

1 photograph,

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.

John Heard Estate, State Route 1A, Ipswich, Essex County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Fires nearby

41 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 41 fires within 5 miles of Ipswich between 2015 and 2020, burning about 32 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 3 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 burning	20
Smoking	5
Railroad operations and maintenance	3
Power generation/transmission/distribution	3
Arson/incendiarism	3
Recreation and ceremony	2
Equipment and vehicle use	2
Natural	1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1
Misuse of fire by a minor	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
8 September 2020	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
7 September 2020	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
28 August 2016	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	IPSWICH
25 August 2017	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
22 August 2016	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	IPSWICH
3 July 2016	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	IPSWICH
26 July 2016	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	IPSWICH
7 June 2019	Natural	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 4,556 shown

Museums hold 4,556 specimens collected within 10 miles of Ipswich between 1821 and 1975: 1,817 Plantae, 1,177 Fungi, 1,140 Animalia, 157 Chromista, 151 Unrecorded, 90 Protozoa, 24 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A H HIGGINSON, A Perlmutter, A. A. Eaton 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.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Brasenia schreberi J.F.Gmel.	1821	not recorded	Pleasant Pond, Wenham, Mass.
Diphyscium foliosum (Hedw.) D.Mohr	1822	ALCOTT
Arcyria oerstedii Rostaf., 1875	1826	F. A. Gilbert
Glyceria obtusa (Muhl.) Trin.	1838	W Oakes
Lecanora tartarea (L.) Ach.	1839	E. Tuckerman	Manchester
Ochrolechia yasudae Vainio	1839	Tuckerman, E.	[USA] Manchester, Massachusetts.
Clethra alnifolia L.	1840	OakesHerbarium	Rowley
Euphorbia polygonifolia L.	1840	Wolle, J.	Ipswich
Iva frutescens L.	1840	Oakes	ad Ipswich
Potentilla anserina L.	1840	Wolle, J.	Ipswich
Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.	1840	Oakes	Ipswich
Dasya C.Agardh, 1824	1842	Collector unknown	Little River near Old Town, 6 miles from the sea

All 4,556 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 Ipswich: 5 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: 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.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Goodhue Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Ipswich Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Miles River Sand and Gravel Co	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
R W Drinkwater	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
R W Drinkwater Inc	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Rowley Ready Mix Inc.	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Topseal Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Essex County

Storms nearby

18 since 1996

The National Weather Service names Ipswich in 18 storm reports between 1996 and 2019: 8 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 3 lightning, 3 hail. 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
September 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Ipswich	$100,000	Over 100 trees were downed, snapped, or lost large limbs. This included hardwood and softwood trees such as oaks and pines. Power was out for a majority of the town since many utility lines were brought down. Damage from this microburst began at Mile Lane and Linebrook Road where tops of a large pine tree and oak tree were snapped off and ended on Argilla Road where large tree limbs and power lines were downed.\|\|The most significant damage was on Topsfield Road where a large pine tree was downed and multiple utility lines were downed, including a transformer. Damage was also significant on South Main Street at County Road where large oak trees had limbs snapped off and numerous power and utility lines were downed. On Waldingfield Road, a large tree and limbs were downed onto the commuter rail tracks, resulting in delays until the debris could be cleared.
June 2005	Lightning	Ipswich	$50,000	no account filed
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Ipswich	$30,000	Trees, wires, and four telephone poles were blown down on Nabby's Point Road in Ipswich. A large limb was downed onto Broadway Avenue. A tree was downed onto the MBTA tracks for the Newburyport commuter rail line.
June 2005	Lightning	Ipswich	$20,000	no account filed
June 2019	Lightning	Ipswich	$15,000	At 1:45 PM EST, a house on Country Club Way in Ipswich was reported on fire due to a lightning strike.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Ipswich	$10,000	no account filed
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Ipswich	$5,000	At 5:55 PM EST several trees were down on Waldingfield Road in Hamilton.
June 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Ipswich	$5,000	no account filed
May 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Ipswich	$1,000	At 945 PM EST, a tree was reported down on County Road near River Bend.
July 2015	Funnel Cloud	Ipswich	-	A funnel cloud was spotted looking north towards Newbury.
June 2007	Hail	Ipswich	-	Penny size hail.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Ipswich	-	Part of a metal chimney blown off a house and onto Route 1.
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Ipswich	-	Tree down on 25th Street.
June 1998	Flash Flood	Ipswich	-	Ipswich River
June 2010	Hail	Ipswich	-	no account filed
June 2010	Hail	Ipswich	-	no account filed
October 1996	Flash Flood	Ipswich	-	no account filed
October 1996	Flash Flood	Ipswich	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Essex 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Aqawam (historical)	0.0 miles	42
Nancys Corner	2.7 miles	42
Little Neck	2.8 miles	42
Hamilton	3.0 miles	42
Rowley	3.3 miles	41
Pinefield	3.3 miles	41
Kent Corner	4.0 miles	41
Essex	4.5 miles	42

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 Ipswich	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6065497	The 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 614554. 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.