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

Leominster, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Leominster City. It lies in ZIP code area 01453. It stands on Monoosnoc Brook. The Survey maps it on the Fitchburg quadrangle. 43,782 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 404 feet above sea level.

Leominster within Worcester County

Population over time

5 figures

Leominster grew from 7,269 to 43,782 between 1890 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
1890	7,269
1900	12,392	+5,123 (+70%)
1910	17,580	+5,188 (+42%)
2010	40,759
2020	43,782	+3,023 (+7%)

Then and now

1887 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Leominster, surveyed 1988

Topographic sheet of Leominster, surveyed 1887

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.

Fires nearby

176 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 176 fires within 5 miles of Leominster between 2015 and 2020, burning about 188 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
Debris and open burning	75
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	62
Smoking	26
Recreation and ceremony	12
Power generation/transmission/distribution	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
7 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
5 September 2016	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
3 September 2017	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
24 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	3.4 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	MONOOSNOC HILL
22 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
19 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
18 September 2016	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
9 August 2016	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Worcester County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,769 shown

Museums hold 1,769 specimens collected within 10 miles of Leominster between 1861 and 1974: 1,062 Animalia, 518 Plantae, 169 Fungi, 8 Unrecorded, 8 Chromista, 4 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. C. Gibson, A. Ferrett 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
Porella platyphylla (L.) Pfeiff.	1895	James F. Collins	South spur, Mount Wachusett
Athyrium filix-femina subsp. angustum (Willd.) R.T.Clausen	1900	Davenport	Pine Hill; Medford
Dryobates pubescens medianus (Swainson, 1832)	1861	not recorded	Bolton
Clemmys insculpta Fitzinger, 1835	1864	Agassiz
Hylesinus aculeatus Say & T., 1824	1872	unknown	Fitchburg
Carex foenea Willd.	1878	W. Boott	Wachusett Mountain
Bromus sterilis L.	1879	C. E. Faxon
Merulius lacrymans (Wulfen) Schumach.	1879	Howes, A.	Massachusetts
Sibbaldiopsis tridentata (Aiton) Rydb.	1879	Bailey, W.W.	summit of Mt. Wachusett
Hypericum gentianoides (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.	1881	Fredrick L Sargent	Lunenburg
Icterus galbula (Linnaeus, 1758)	1881	G. L. Brigham	Bolton
Arthuriomyces peckianus (Howe) Cummins & Y.Hirats.	1892	W. B. Hosmer

All 1,769 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

9 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Leominster: 3 past producers, 2 occurrences, 2 producers, 1 prospect. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Tungsten, Lithium, Tin. 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
Fitchburg Area	Tin, Lithium	Occurrence
Leominster	Lithium, Tin	Occurrence	1824
Leominster Pit	Geothermal	Past Producer
Luciani Prospect	Tungsten	Prospect
Keating Quarry & Mill	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Unknown
Keating Quarry and Mill	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Luenburg Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
P J Keating	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Tanzio Road Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms nearby

28 since 1998

The National Weather Service names Leominster in 28 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 12 thunderstorm wind, 8 flash flood, 3 lightning, 3 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
March 2010	Flood	North Leominster	$2,700,000	The Nashua River at Clinton rose to flood stage after three to six inches of rain fell across Worcester County. Two factories in Clinton were closed after ten feet of water flooded the basements. In addition, two to three hundred feet of railroad tracks were washed out. Several cars were submerged in flood waters throughout Clinton. Two sections of Clinton were flooded: the Main and Church Streets area, where Coachlace Pond overflowed a culvert and the Water Street section near the Nashua River. Many streets were closed and several businesses along Main Street were damaged by floodwaters. The U-Haul storage facility on High Street was flooded. Several apartments throughout town were evacuated, but no concrete numbers were reported. The overflow from Coachlace Pond washed out a rail bed, dislodging the tracks and halting trains.\|\|Several smaller brooks and streams also overflowed their banks resulting in basements, parking lots, and yards flooding in Leominster, Clinton, and Westminster. Near the Mall at Whitney Field in Leominster, two vehicles were submerged and their drivers rescued when the Monoosnock Brook overflowed its banks, one was an armored car. Several roads in Leominster, Lancaster, Fitchburg, Sterling, and Westminster were closed due to flooding.
May 2007	Lightning	Leominster	$300,000	A lightning strike sparked a large house fire at 41 Bicentennial Drive in Leominster on the 16th. A family pet (dog) was killed in the fire. The fire caused nearly $300,000 in damage to the house.
August 2016	Flash Flood	North Leominster	$40,000	Leominster: Lancaster Street under the bridge was flooded. Cars were stuck in flood waters on Route 117 by the shopping plaza. Manhole covers were pushed out by flooding on West Street. The police department parking lot was flooded. Three cars were stuck in flood waters on Mechanic Street. Central Street was flooded with three feet of water.\|\|Fitchburg: Water was a foot deep on John Fitch Highway and the adjoining parking lot.
July 2004	Flash Flood	Leominster	$25,000	no account filed
June 2009	Flash Flood	Leominster	$20,000	Several roads were flooded with water up to the car bumpers and people being rescued. Two homes were also flooded, one on Willard Street and another on Johnson Street. Phone service was out at these homes.
May 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Leominster	$15,000	Wires on University Avenue were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Leominster	$15,000	no account filed
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Leominster	$15,000	no account filed
June 2018	Flood	Leominster	$10,000	At 5:34 PM EST, a car was trapped in flood waters on Water Street in Leominster, and a second car was trapped in flood waters on Graham Street.
October 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Leominster	$10,000	Trees on Main Street and Manchester Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Leominster	$10,000	no account filed
August 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Leominster	$5,000	no account filed
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Leominster	$1,000	In Leominster there was a tree and wires down on Devin Rd.
October 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Leominster	$500	In Leominster, a tree was down on Mountain View Road.
July 2023	Flash Flood	Leominster	-	In Leominster, Washington Squre was flooded and impassable.
September 2023	Flash Flood	Leominster	-	In Leominster, two cars were flooded and disabled.
September 2023	Flash Flood	Leominster	-	In Agawam, numerous roads were flooded and impassable with water rescues.
September 2023	Flash Flood	Leominster	-	In Leominster, multiple roads was flooded and impassable.
September 2023	Flood	Leominster	-	In Leominster, Exchange St was flooded with basement flooding also occurring.
August 2015	Hail	Leominster	-	Quarter to ping pong ball size hail fell in Leominster.
June 2007	Hail	Leominster	-	Penny size hail.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Leominster	-	Trees down on River Street, partially blocking the road.
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Leominster	-	Trees down blocking Elm Street.
April 2000	Flash Flood	Leominster	-	Phillips Brook
July 2004	Lightning	Leominster	-	no account filed
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Leominster	-	no account filed
July 1999	Lightning	Leominster	-	no account filed
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Leominster	-	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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
West Leominster	1.4 miles	42
North Leominster	1.7 miles	44
Gates Crossing	2.3 miles	43
South Fitchburg	3.0 miles	42
Lunenburg Station	3.1 miles	44
Whalom	3.5 miles	44
Pratt Junction	4.0 miles	43
Fitchburg	4.6 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 Leominster	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q54185	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 617697. 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.