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

Newton Corner, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Newton City. It lies in ZIP code area 02458. It stands on Laundry Brook. The Survey maps it on the Newton quadrangle.

Newton Corner within Middlesex County

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 Newton Corner, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Newton Corner, 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.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Newton city, The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.

From History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880 - Newton City

Newton

JbIj^ 1700, M. 63. Capt. Noab, of Newton, an Officer in the Expedition against Canada. Killed in battle with the Freoch and Indians July C, 1C90. M. 50, leaving t son Thomas. Ebeneser, oC Newton, died June 21, 1691. .fi. 45. ... . . J. B. Jepson, Newton Comer, rereals many gravestones whose inscriptions are no longer l^ble, and others, recalling the names which filled a laige place in the early history of the town, and Belonged to the founders of its institutions and the authors of its prosperity.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

124,955 words on this township

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Newton City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Abraham Williams was not related to Captain Isaac Williams. He came from Watertown, where he took the freeman's oatli in 1652. He purchased a dwelling-house and twelve acres of land of John Callon in August, 1654. In 1662 he purchased of William Clemens a dwelloig-house and six acres of land in what was in later times Newton Corner, very near the Watertown line. He married Joanna, sister of John Ward, about 1660, by whom he had two sons and two daughters, and perhaps others, of whom two were born in Cambridge Village. He sold his place to Gregory Cooke, and removed to Marlborough, near Belcher's Pond, in 1668. He was a colonel in the militia, and representative from Marlborough in the General Court. He kept a public-house in that town, which was long known by the name of the Williams Tavern, where he died December 29, 1712, aged eightyfour. His widow, Joanna, died December 8, 1718, aged ninety.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

Mrs. Susannah Rowson opened a female academy and boarding-school at Newton Corner, in the brick portion of tiie building since known as the Nonantum House, in the early part of the present century. She was the daughter of a British officer, a woman of many accomplishments, and an author of considerable reputation. Her school was attended by young ladies from remote states in the Union and from the West India Islands. She tauglit also, either before or afterwards, in Medford, Roxbury, and Boston. Many items of her personal history are preserved in her novel entitled Rebecca, which, under fictitious names, is a record of actual events and occurrences in the days of the American Revolution. She is said to have been a very courtly woman, and paid special attention to the carriage and manners of her pupils.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

Under the influence of a newly awakened educational zeal, the first normal school for the instruction of female teachers was commenced in Lexington, Massachusetts, and afterwards removed, under the auspices of that great educator and philanthropist, the Hon. Horace Mann, then residing in West Newton, on Walnut Street, to the village of his abode. It was his favorite plan to keep the school under his constant supervision. The school found its home in the building of the Fuller Academy, which was bought for that purpose. The Rev. Cyrus Pierce, called generally Father Pierce, was the first teacher. A model school was established in the immediate vicinity in coiuiection witli the normal school, where the pupils of tiie latter had opportunity by personal teaching to put to practical use the instruction they received. This school, afterwards under the care of Mr. Eben Stearns, continued for a few years to have its seat in West Newton, where it was a most successful enterprise. It was removed afterwards to Framingham.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

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 Newton City - it names this place 12 more 12 times.

Fires near this place

66 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 66 fires within 5 miles of Newton Corner between 2015 and 2020, burning about 32 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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
Recreation and ceremony28
Missing data/not specified/undetermined22
Debris and open burning8
Smoking3
Arson/incendiarism3
Equipment and vehicle use1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
8 September 2020Missing 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
4 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNEEDHAM
3 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNEEDHAM
23 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWELLESLEY
21 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNEEDHAM
2 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBROOKLINE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 2,427 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 2,427 specimens collected within 10 miles of Newton Corner between 1898 and 1975: 1,237 Animalia, 652 Plantae, 469 Fungi, 29 Protozoa, 17 Bacteria, 14 Chromista, 9 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A. B. Seymour 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 Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 18221900not recordedWayland
Specimen of Trientalis borealis Raf.Trientalis borealis Raf.1900A. P. Chute
Aglaospora profusa (Fr.) De Not.1898Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Antennaria howellii, not of this specimenAntennaria howellii subsp. canadensis (Greene) R.J.Bayer1898Williams, E.F.
A photograph of the species Antennaria parlinii, not of this specimenAntennaria parlinii subsp. fallax (Greene) R.J.Bayer & Stebbins1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Antennaria plantaginifolia, not of this specimenAntennaria plantaginifolia (L.) Hook.1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Aquilegia canadensis, not of this specimenAquilegia canadensis L.1898M. I. GunnNatick
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.
A photograph of the species Acer palmatum, not of this specimenAcer palmatum var. dissectum (Thunb.) Miq.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
A photograph of the species Agaricus brunnescens, not of this specimenAgaricus brunnescens Peck1900Morris, G. E.Waltham
A photograph of the species Alnus incana, not of this specimenAlnus incana subsp. rugosa (Du Roi) R.T.Clausen1900J. Murdoch, Jr.Roxbury

All 2,427 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Newton Corner: 4 past producers, 4 plants, 1 producer. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Iron, Lead. 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) Cambridge Smelter CoLeadPlant
Nrc Inc--Newton, Ma.Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium)Plant
Industrial Serv. Centers--CambridgeIronPlant
Massachusetts Broken Stone CoStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Weston MineStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Wheelock-Lovejoy--Cambridge, Ma.IronPlant
Burton PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Town of WellesleySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Town of WellesleySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working 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
North Village0.3 miles46
Nonantum0.4 miles46
Bemis0.7 miles46
Newtonville0.9 miles46
Watertown0.9 miles46
Clematis Brook Station1.6 miles46
Beaver Brook Station1.8 miles46
Newton1.8 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 617179. 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.