Needham, Massachusetts

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.

1893 1989

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 12 records

• Amos Fuller Houselisted 1983
• Robert Fuller Houselisted 1987
• Emery Grover Buildinglisted 1987
• Kingsbury-Whitaker Houselisted 1990
• Joshua Lewis Houselisted 1982
• McIntosh Corner Historic Districtlisted 1989
• Davis Mills Houselisted 1982
• Needham Town Hall Historic Districtlisted 1990
• James Smith Houselisted 1986
• Tolman-Gay Houselisted 1982
• Townsend Houselisted 1982
• Israel Whitney Houselisted 1988

Businesses named in the fire insurance atlases 5 records

• Avery Primary and Grammar SchoolSchool, in the atlas of 1912
• Carter, W., Co., Knitting Mill No. 1Mill, in the atlas of 1912
• Evangelical Congregational ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1919
• Methodist ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1912
• Roper Bros. Co., Knitting MillMill, in the atlas of 1912

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.

• 1893 USGS Boston quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
• 1903 USGS Boston quadrangle1:62500, 13 printings
• 1943 USGS Boston quadrangle1:125000
• 1944 USGS Newton quadrangle1:24000
• 1946 USGS Newton quadrangle1:31680, 3 printings
• 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1954 USGS Newton quadrangle1:25000
• 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
• 1956 USGS Newton quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
• 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1970 USGS Newton quadrangle1:24000
• 1970 USGS Newton quadrangle1:25000
• 1977 USGS Newton quadrangle1:25000
• 1985 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
• 1987 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:25000, 2 printings
• 1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884 names this settlement in its chapter on Needham Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 139 fires within 5 miles of Needham between 2003 and 2020, burning about 396 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.

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

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

• Birds Hill
• Needham Heights
• Needham Junction
• Riverdale
• Dedham Island
• Ellis

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 16,507 specimens collected within 10 miles of Needham between 1815 and 1975: 6,413 Animalia, 5,464 Plantae, 4,170 Fungi, 205 Protozoa, 170 Chromista, 53 Unrecorded, 32 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, ? ex Herb. W.G. Farlow, A C Gibson 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	Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
	Araiospora pulchra Thaxt.	1900	R. Thaxter	Stony Brook
	Hypoprepia fucosa Hübner, 1831	1900	not recorded	Sherborn
	Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald	1900	A. P. Chute
	Corydalis Vent.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Worcester turnpike, 6 miles from Boston.
	Corylus L.	1815	not recorded	Cambridge Port, 2 miles from Boston.
	Hepatica Mill.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Sweet Auburn.
	Mollugo verticillata L.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Boston.
	Nuphar Sm.	1815	Boott, J.W.	Worcester Turnpike 6 miles from Boston.
	Populus L.	1815	not recorded	Cambridgeport, 1 mile from Boston.
	Ranunculus L.	1815	not recorded	Thicket at South Boston.
	Salix L.	1815	not recorded	Cambridge, 3 1/2 miles from Boston.
	Sassafras J.Presl	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Worcester Turnpike, 6 miles from Boston.

All 16,507 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Needham: 6 past producers, 1 producer, 1 unknown, 1 plant. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Tantalum. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Every working recorded in Norfolk County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Needham in 19 storm reports between 2000 and 2023: 8 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 4 flood, 2 lightning. 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.

Every storm recorded in Norfolk County

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612343. 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.