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

Milton, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Milton town. It lies in ZIP code area 02186. It stands on Academy Hill. The Survey maps it on the Blue Hills quadrangle.

Milton within Norfolk 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 Milton, surveyed 1989

Topographic sheet of Milton, surveyed 1886

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

4 photographs,

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.

Daniel Vose House, 1370 Canton Avenue (moved from 38 Adams Street), Milton, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Captain Robert Bennett Forbes House, 215 Adams Street, Milton, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Norfolk Manufacturing Company Cotton Mill, 90 Milton Street, Dedham, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Milestones C, F, G, K, FFF & JJJ, Various Milton locations, Milton, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Fires nearby

217 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 217 fires within 5 miles of Milton between 2015 and 2020, burning about 125 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
Recreation and ceremony	150
Smoking	34
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	27
Debris and open burning	3
Equipment and vehicle use	2
Railroad operations and maintenance	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 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	BRAINTREE
7 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	BRAINTREE
5 September 2016	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	QUINCY
29 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	BRAINTREE
28 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	BRAINTREE
23 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
22 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	BRAINTREE
22 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	1.5 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	BRAINTREE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 11,960 shown

Museums hold 11,960 specimens collected within 10 miles of Milton between 1810 and 1975: 4,806 Plantae, 3,620 Fungi, 3,062 Animalia, 204 Protozoa, 171 Chromista, 62 Unrecorded, 35 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), ?, ? ex Herb. W.G. Farlow 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
Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald	1900	A. P. Chute
Thalictrum L.	1810	Boott, J.W.	Near Boston.
Anemone L.	1815	Boott, J.	Andover Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston.
Corylus L.	1815	not recorded	Cambridge Port, 2 miles from Boston.
Ericaceae	1815	Boott	Boston, U.S.A.
Hepatica Mill.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Sweet Auburn.
Limonium vulgare Mill.	1815	not recorded	On Cragies Road [=near Cragies Bridge], 1 1/2 miles from Boston.
Mollugo verticillata L.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Boston.
Nuphar Sm.	1815	Boott, J.W.	Worcester Turnpike 6 miles from Boston.
Persicaria (L.) Mill.	1815	Boott, J.W.	Craigie's Road, 2 miles from Boston.
Populus L.	1815	not recorded	Cambridgeport, 1 mile from Boston.
Ranunculus L.	1815	not recorded	Thicket at South Boston.

All 11,960 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

4 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Milton: 2 producers, 1 unknown, 1 past producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Granite, 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
Braintree Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Old Colony Crushed Stone	Granite	Past Producer	Granite
Old Colony Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
West Roxbury Crushed Stone Operatio	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Unknown

Every working recorded in Norfolk County

Storms nearby

21 since 1996

The National Weather Service names Milton in 21 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 9 thunderstorm wind, 5 lightning, 4 heavy rain, 1 hail. The reports record 3 injuries. 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
June 2010	Lightning	Milton	3 hurt	Lightning struck a house on Augusta Road, causing a fire that engulfed the entire third floor of the house. No one was home at the time of the fire. Three firefighters were hospitalized for heat exhaustion but were released less than 24 hours later.
July 2008	Lightning	Milton	$250,000	A house on Highland Street in Quincy was struck by lightning and caught fire.
July 2002	Lightning	Milton	$90,000	no account filed
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Milton	$25,000	no account filed
May 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Milton	$15,000	no account filed
August 1998	Lightning	Milton	$3,000	no account filed
August 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Milton	$800	In Milton, the public reported a tree and wires down. Report relayed via amateur radio.
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Milton	$800	In Milton, a tree and wires were down on Randolph Avenue (Route 28).
July 2025	Flash Flood	Milton	-	In Milton, Lincoln St was flooded and impassable.
September 2017	Flood	Milton	-	At 930 AM EST in Milton, Lincoln Street at Brook Road was closed due to flooding.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Milton	-	An anemometer at Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center recorded a wind gust of 58 mph.
May 2009	Hail	Milton	-	Penny size hail fell at Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center.
May 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Milton	-	Blue Hill Observatory
April 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Milton	-	no account filed
May 2000	Lightning	Milton	-	no account filed
June 2000	Heavy Rain	Milton	-	no account filed
July 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Milton	-	no account filed
February 1999	Heavy Rain	Milton	-	no account filed
June 1998	Heavy Rain	Milton	-	no account filed
October 1998	Heavy Rain	Milton	-	no account filed
May 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Milton	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Norfolk 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
Adamsville (historical)	0.5 miles	42
Milton Center	0.8 miles	46
Milton Hill	1.2 miles	46
Milton Village	1.2 miles	46
Forbes Wharf	1.2 miles	46
East Milton	1.4 miles	46
Milton Upper Mills	1.7 miles	46
Blue Hills	1.7 miles	42

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612958. 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.