Northbridge, Massachusetts

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.

1886 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 4 records

• Linwood Historic Districtlisted 1989
• Rockdale Common Housing Districtlisted 1983
• US Post Office-Whitinsville Mainlisted 1987
• Whitinsville Historic Districtlisted 1983

Surveyed buildings and structures 2 records

• Whitinsville Brick Mill, Forge, 56 Douglas Road, Northbridgefederal building survey, 1 photograph
• Whittinsville Brick Mill, 56 Douglas Road, Northbridgefederal building survey, 6 photographs

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.

• 1886 USGS Blackstone quadrangle1:62500
• 1889 USGS Blackstone quadrangle1:62500
• 1893 USGS Blackstone quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
• 1900 USGS Blackstone quadrangle1:62500, 7 printings
• 1908 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
• 1919 USGS Blackstone quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
• 1943 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000
• 1944 USGS Grafton quadrangle1:31680, 5 printings
• 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1953 USGS Grafton quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
• 1953 USGS Grafton quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
• 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
• 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1969 USGS Grafton quadrangle1:24000
• 1969 USGS Grafton quadrangle1:25000
• 1975 USGS Grafton quadrangle1:25000
• 1982 USGS Milford quadrangle1:25000
• 1985 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
• 1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Northbridge Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

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.

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 65 fires within 5 miles of Northbridge between 2002 and 2020, burning about 45 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.

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:

• Northbridge Center
• West Upton
• Kittville
• East Sutton
• Farnumsville
• Fisherville

Every fire recorded in Worcester County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 728 specimens collected within 10 miles of Northbridge between 1844 and 1975: 323 Plantae, 237 Animalia, 152 Fungi, 10 Protozoa, 3 Unrecorded, 3 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. P. D. Piguet, A. R. Hodgdon; F. L. Steele 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
	Chilonectria coryli (Fuckel) Ellis & Everh.	1896	Henderson
	Coryneum pulvinatum Kunze	1897	D. Murray
	Sceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) Lyon	1899	H. H. Scudder
	Trichophorum planifolium (Spreng.) Palla	1844	Collector unspecified	Uxbridge
	Carex vesicaria L.	1848	J. W. Robbins
	Potamogeton epihydrus Raf.	1848	J. W. Robbins	Uxbridge
	Potamogeton bicupulatus Fernald	1854	W. J. Robbins	Uxbridge
	Carex brevior (Dewey) Mack.	1855	J. W. Robbins
	Carex normalis Mack.	1855	J. W. Robbins
	Carex siccata Dewey	1855	J. W. Robbins
	Carex straminea Willd. ex Schkuhr	1855	J. W. Robbins
	Hyla versicolor LeConte, 1825	1857	Weinland, David Friedrich

All 728 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 20 workings within 5 miles of Northbridge: 13 past producers, 6 producers, 1 unknown. 6 still produce. What was taken out: 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.

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Northbridge in 9 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 4 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 heavy rain, 1 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 Worcester 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 611035. 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.