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

Methuen, Massachusetts

38 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Methuen City. It lies in ZIP code area 01844. It stands on Daddy Frye Hill. The Survey maps it on the Lawrence quadrangle. 53,059 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 115 feet above sea level.

Methuen within Essex County

Population over time

2 figures

Methuen grew from 47,255 to 53,059 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	47,255
2020	53,059	+5,804 (+12%)

Then and now

1886 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 102 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Methuen, surveyed 1988

Topographic sheet of Methuen, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

38 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, 1941

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.

Mr. La Rosa, Italian vegetable farmer and weaver at Plymouth Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Has about eleven-acre farm in Methuen, Massachusetts. In the summer his son works the land, also works at the Plymouth Mill
Delano, Jack, 1941. Library of Congress

Fires nearby

76 since 1992

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 76 fires within 5 miles of Methuen between 1992 and 2020, burning about 44 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 10 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/undetermined	23
Smoking	14
Arson/incendiarism	10
Misuse of fire by a minor	9
Equipment and vehicle use	5
Recreation and ceremony	4
Debris and open burning	4
Power generation/transmission/distribution	3
Railroad operations and maintenance	3
Natural	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
24 September 2020	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
14 September 2020	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
14 September 2016	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	NORTH ANDOVER
8 August 2016	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	LAWERANCE
8 August 2016	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	LAWERANCE
8 August 2016	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	LAWERANCE
5 August 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	METHUEN
27 August 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	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 986 shown

Museums hold 986 specimens collected within 10 miles of Methuen between 1816 and 1975: 563 Plantae, 307 Animalia, 105 Fungi, 4 Chromista, 4 Protozoa, 3 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A Brown, A S Gaunt, A. C. Mathieson 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
Lupinus L.	1816	Boott, F.M.B.	Mystic Pond, 6 miles from Boston.
Viola labradorica Schrank	1816	not recorded	Andover Turnpike, 6 miles from Boston U.S.A.
Eleocharis robbinsii Oakes	1829	B. D. Greene
Carex debilis var. rudgei L.H.Bailey	1853	Collector unknown
Carex rostrata Stokes	1853	W. Boott
Cyathus striatus Willd.	1853	not recorded	Andover, Mass. [Massachusetts]
Dichelyma capillaceum (Dicks.) Myrin	1853	T. P. James
Isopterygiopsis pulchella (Hedw.) Z.Iwats.	1853	T. P. James
Leskea polycarpa Hedw.	1853	T. P. James
Vulpia octoflora var. glauca (Nutt.) Fernald	1858	J. Blake
Catostomus commersonii (Lacepède, 1803)	1859	Putnam, Frederick Ward	Merrimack River, at Lawrence, Essex County, Massachusetts
Luxilus cornutus (Mitchill, 1817)	1859	FW Putnam	Merrimac River, at Lawrence

All 986 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

5 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Methuen: 3 past producers, 1 unknown, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Nickel, Gold, Silver, Copper. 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
Dracut Ni Mine/Nickel Mine Hill	Nickel, Gold, Silver, Copper	Past Producer
Rocco Zambino and Sons, Inc. Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Sand & Gravel Operation	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Torromeo Trucking Co	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Torromeo Trucking Co., Inc. Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Essex County

Storms nearby

27 since 1998

The National Weather Service names Methuen in 27 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 15 thunderstorm wind, 5 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
March 2001	Flash Flood	Methuen	$10,000,000	no account filed
June 2005	Lightning	Methuen	$100,000	no account filed
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	$50,000	Approximately twenty to thirty trees and wires on Hampstead and Old Homestead Streets were downed by microburst winds.
October 2016	Flash Flood	Methuen	$10,000	Two to three inches of rain fell in only a couple of hours and produced significant urban flash flooding. In Methuen, Riverside Drive by the boat ramp was closed due to flooding and several cars were stranded. Route 213 at I-495 was flooded and cars were stuck in the roadway. In Haverhill, the area near Laurel and Railroad Avenues was flooded with four feet of water and a car was stranded in flood waters. The intersection of Primrose and Dexter Avenues was impassable. In Peabody, several roads were impassable due to flooding which included Allens Lane, Walnut Street, Prospect Street near the North Shore Mall, Foster Street, Tremont Street, and Margin Street. In Danvers, Wildwood Road was flooded. In Lynn, a portion of Boston Street was flooded.
September 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	$10,000	Several trees were downed throughout Methuen by thunderstorm winds.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	$10,000	no account filed
July 2002	Lightning	Methuen	$10,000	no account filed
May 1998	Lightning	Methuen	$10,000	no account filed
July 2018	Flash Flood	Methuen	$5,000	At 2:25 PM a car was trapped in flood waters in Methuen, at the intersection of Burnham Road and Haverhill Street.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	$5,000	A tree was downed into the right lane of Route 213 westbound by thunderstorm winds.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	$5,000	A tree on Route 213 in Methuen was downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	$5,000	A tree and wires on Madison Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	$5,000	Wires on Liberty Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
September 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	$3,000	Large tree limbs on Oak Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	$3,000	A tree on North Lowell Street in Methuen was downed by thunderstorm winds. Also, a large tree limb was downed onto Curtis Street near the intersection with Jackson Street.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	$500	In Methuen, a large tree was down on power lines on Horne St.
July 2021	Hail	Methuen	-	In Methuen, quarter size hail was reported.
June 2019	Hail	Methuen	-	At 1:10 PM EST, three-quarter inch hail was reported in Methuen MA.
July 2018	Flash Flood	Methuen	-	At 2:35 PM EST Park Street in Lawrence had heavy flooding from Bennington Street to State Route 28.
October 2014	Flood	Methuen	-	The 110/113 rotary was flooded with three feet of water.
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	-	Tree down on Armstrong Street.
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	-	Several trees downed.
June 1998	Flash Flood	Methuen	-	Spicket River
June 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	-	no account filed
June 1999	Hail	Methuen	-	no account filed
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	-	no account filed
August 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Methuen	-	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
Marston Corners	1.6 miles	38
Lawrence	2.0 miles	38
Marsh Corner	2.2 miles	38
Tozier Corner	2.5 miles	47
South Lawrence	2.9 miles	38
Mount Vernon Park	3.0 miles	38
Maple Park	3.3 miles	47
North Andover	3.5 miles	38

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 Methuen	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q54179	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 612337. 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.