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

Medford, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Medford City. It lies in ZIP code area 02155. It stands on Intervale Brook. The Survey maps it on the Boston North quadrangle. 59,659 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 13 feet above sea level.

Medford within Middlesex County

Population over time

2 figures

Medford grew from 56,173 to 59,659 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.

YearPeople Change
201056,173
202059,659+3,486 (+6%)

Then and now

1893 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 96 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Medford, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Medford, surveyed 1893

Topographic sheets covering this place

46 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 county-history sources

215,237 words on this township

History of the Town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts : from Its First Settlement, in 1630, to the Present Time, 1855, published 1855 names this settlement in its chapter on Medford City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

In writing this History, it has been my -wish to secure Medford such territory in time as its acres are territory in space. The gathering of these annals has been too long delayed. Time, moth, and rust have done thenfatal work on many valuable materials ; and some gentlemen, who felt a deep interest in their native town, have died without leaving any manuscript testimonies. When the history of New England shall be written, the true data will be drawn from the records of its towns. Now, therefore, in humble imitation of those States in our Union which have contributed each its block of granite, marble, or copper to the National Monument at Washington, I ask leave to offer Medford's historical contribution to the undecaying pyramidic monument which justice and genius will hereafter raise to the character and institutions of New England.

Passage source: History of the Town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts : from Its First Settlement, in 1630, to the Present Time, 1855, published 1855.

There are no foot-notes in this volume. My reason for incorporating such matter with the text is this : whenever notes are printed at the bottom of a page, it is expected they will be read in at the place where the asterisk in the text directs. If the note is put there to be read in there, why not put it into the text at that place, and thus save the eye the trouble of wandering down to the bottom of the page to hunt up the note, and then wandering back again to find the spot whence it started on its search ? If the new mode I have adopted should prove inconvenient to readers, they must so declare against it that no writer will follow the example.

Passage source: History of the Town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts : from Its First Settlement, in 1630, to the Present Time, 1855, published 1855.

By means of printed circulars and public addresses in 1853, '54, and '55, I gave very urgent invitations to all the living descendants of our ancestors, and to all the present inhabitants of Medford, to furnish me with genealogical registers of their families, promising to insert all they might send. Many have complied with these requests, and many have not. I regret exceedingly that families, who alone possess the requisite information, should have withheld it. It is a serious loss to our history, and may hereafter be regretted by themselves. In this respect, the history of a town is apt to disappoint everybody. These registers of early families in New England will contain the only authentic records of the true Anglo-Saxon blood existing among us ; for, if foreign immigration should pom- in upon us for the next fifty years as it has for the last thirty, it will become difficult for any man to prove that he has descended from the Plymouth Pilgrims.

Passage source: History of the Town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts : from Its First Settlement, in 1630, to the Present Time, 1855, published 1855.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Medford City - it names this place 91 more 91 times.

Fires near this place

83 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 83 fires within 5 miles of Medford between 2015 and 2020, burning about 108 acres in total. None started naturally. 30 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
Arson/incendiarism30
Missing data/not specified/undetermined23
Debris and open burning13
Recreation and ceremony11
Smoking3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
4 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder 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 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 September 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMELROSE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 1,732 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,732 specimens collected within 10 miles of Medford between 1898 and 1975: 780 Animalia, 517 Plantae, 372 Fungi, 26 Protozoa, 17 Bacteria, 12 Chromista, 8 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A B. Proper 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 Trientalis borealis Raf.Trientalis borealis Raf.1900A. P. Chute
Aglaospora profusa (Fr.) De Not.1898Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Bulbostylis capillaris, not of this specimenBulbostylis capillaris var. crebra Fernald1898C. H. KnowltonBoston.
A photograph of the species Cantharellus cinnabarinus, not of this specimenCantharellus cinnabarinus (Schwein.) Schwein.1898not recordedNewton.
A photograph of the species Cantharellus infundibuliformis, not of this specimenCantharellus infundibuliformis (Scop.) Fr.1898not recordedMelrose.
A photograph of the species Cladonia coccifera, not of this specimenCladonia coccifera (L.) Willd.1898Francis P DanielsCambridge
A photograph of the species Cladonia rangiferina, not of this specimenCladonia rangiferina (L.) Weber1898Francis P DanielsArlington Heights
A photograph of the species Cordyceps capitata, not of this specimenCordyceps capitata (Holmsk.) Link1898Conant, [?] F.Middlesex Fells
A photograph of the species Crataegus coccinea, not of this specimenCrataegus coccinea L.1898NoneHarvard University Arboretum
A photograph of the species Ctenidium malacodes, not of this specimenCtenidium malacodes Mitt.1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Acanthis flammea, not of this specimenAcanthis flammea flammea (Linnaeus, 1758)1900ZAPPEY, W RROSLINDALE
A photograph of the species Acer carpinifolium, not of this specimenAcer carpinifolium Siebold & Zucc.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.

All 1,732 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 18 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Medford: 10 plants, 5 past producers, 2 producers, 1 unknown. 12 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Lead, Gypsum-Anhydrite. 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
(Facility) Vulcan Smelter--Chelsea, Ma.Copper, LeadPlant
C. J. MabardySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Mahoney:S Rocky LedgePeatPast ProducerPeat
Rocky Ledge PitClayPast Producer
Syncor Prdts Co--Malden, Ma.SilicaPlant
Us Gypsum Co--BostonGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Whittemore Prdts Inc--BostonPerlitePlant
(Facility) Cambridge Smelter CoLeadPlant
General Metals & Smelting--BostonLeadPlant
Somerville Smelting Co.LeadPlant

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms near this place

20 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Medford in 20 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 14 thunderstorm wind, 3 flood, 1 flash flood, 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 1998Flash FloodMedford$570,000Mystic River
July 2014Thunderstorm WindMedford$25,000Trees were downed on Corey Street and Riverside Avenue. A telephone pole was downed onto Massachusetts Avenue and wires on Lawrence Street were downed, all by thunderstorm winds.
September 2014LightningMedford$15,000Lightning struck a house near the intersection of Central Street and Route 28, setting it on fire.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindWest Medford$10,000At 12:52 AM EST, a large tree was down on a car and laying across Auburn Street in Medford. At the same time, a tree was reported down on Summer Street and a large tree was down on George Street.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindWest Medford$8,000In Winchester, a large tree was down on a house, which took the chimney off the house on Alden Lane. A tree was down on Cambridge Street by the boat club. A tree was down on wires on wires on the 30 block of Allen Road. Trees and wires were down on Ledyard Road. A tree was down on the 70 block of Lawson Road.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindMedford$7,000In Medford, multiple trees were reported downed. In Somerville, a tree was down on a house on Vernon Street and a large branch was down on power lines on Walker Street.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindMedford$6,000At 430 PM EST, trees and wires were reported down on Governors Road in Medford.
August 2005Thunderstorm WindMedford$5,000no account filed
September 2014Thunderstorm WindMedford$3,000Many branches at Tufts University were downed by thunderstorm winds with one large tree branch blocking an entrance to the University.
May 2008FloodMedford$3,000Two cars were stuck in deep water underneath a railroad bridge.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindWest Medford$2,000At 12:55 AM EST, a tree and wires were down on Webcowett Road in Arlington, near the Medford town line.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindMedford$1,000At 422 PM EST, a tree was down on George Street near Main Street in Medford.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindMedford$1,000A large tree limb was downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindMedford$1,000Large tree limbs were downed by thunderstorm winds.
September 2019Thunderstorm WindMedford$700In Medford, a tree and wires were down on Spencer Road.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindMedford$300In Medford, a tree was down in a yard on 9th St.
September 2019FloodWest Medford-In West Medford, a car was stuck in street flooding on Playstead Road.
June 2018FloodMedford-At 12:55 AM EST, Riverside Avenue at City Hall Mall in Medford was reported flooded and impassable.
July 1994Thunderstorm WindMedford-Trees were blown down by winds gusting to 60 mph. Small hail was reported.
June 2008HailMedford-no account filed

Every storm 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
Glenwood0.8 miles46
Medford Hillside1.1 miles46
Wellington1.3 miles46
Edgeworth1.4 miles46
Malden Highlands1.4 miles46
West Medford1.4 miles46
Winter Hill1.6 miles46
West Somerville1.8 miles46

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 MedfordAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q54145The 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 612778. 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.