BlockNorthville, Massachusetts
45 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Worcester City. It lies in ZIP code area 01606. It lies near Sears Island. The Survey maps it on the Worcester North quadrangle. The federal gazetteer marks this settlement historical: it is no longer a populated place, though the surveys that recorded it still are.
Then and now
1885 to 1989The same ground, surveyed 104 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
On record in Northville
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 within a mile 6 records
The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.
John Brooks Houselisted 1980 · 0.6 miles away
Higgins Armory Museumlisted 1980 · 0.6 miles away
North Worcester Aid Societylisted 1980 · 0.6 miles away
Odd Fellows' Homelisted 1980 · 0.7 miles away
Montvalelisted 1980 · 0.8 miles away
Harry Goddard Houselisted 1980 · 1.0 miles away
Topographic sheets covering this place
19 surveys from 45 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1885 USGS Worcester quadrangle1:62500
- 1886 USGS Worcester quadrangle1:62500
- 1892 USGS Worcester quadrangle1:62500, 10 printings
- 1908 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1934 USGS Worcester quadrangle1:24000
- 1939 USGS Worcester North quadrangle1:31680, 5 printings
- 1943 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000
- 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Worcester North quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Worcester North quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1974 USGS Worcester North quadrangle1:24000
- 1974 USGS Worcester North quadrangle1:25000
- 1975 USGS Worcester North quadrangle1:25000
- 1983 USGS Worcester North quadrangle1:25000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
- 1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
37,512 words on this townshipHistory of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Worcester City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
The sixth privilege was built by F. W. Paine, at the corner of School and Union Streets. It was occupied at first by a small wooden building, thirty by eighteen, two stories high ; the basement was occupied by W. H. Howard, lead pipe manufacturer; the second story by Calvin Darby, who ran a carding-maehine. Mr. Howard was bought out by Ichabod Washburn in 1822, and January 1, 1823, Mr. Washburn and Benjamin Goddard formed a partnership, and at the same time bought out Calvin Darby. They manufactured woolen machinery here until their removal to Northville, in 1831. March, Hobart & Co. succeeded them. The premises have been occupied by various parties from 1822 till the present time in the manufiicture of woolen machinery, N. A. Lombard & Co. being the present owners.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.
Mill Brook has played an important part in the development of the manufacturing interests of Worcester, and three distinct privileges on this stream have been occupied by wire factories, while the first experiments of Ichabod Washburn were conducted at the present location of the Lombard Factory, on School Street. The fir»t wire-mill was located at Northville, and later was moved down the stream to the Grove Mill privilege, and later still the Quinsigamond privilege was used for this business. Mill Brook is now condemned to the main sewer shortly after it leaves the works of Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company, in Grove Street, from which it emerges into the Blackstone, just below the works at Quinsigamou'l.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.
Other manufticturers of wrenches, in a small way, have engaged in the business from time to time. In April, 1852, E. F. Dixie advertises to manufacture " Hewefs celebrated screw-wrench." George G. Taft and John Gleason manufactured wrenches, in connection with copying-presses, at Northville, in 185.3. B. F. Joslyn, who seems to have been a most ingenious mechanic, and who made several inventions in fire-arms, made several improvements in wrenches, and on one of these, at least, procured a patent.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Fires near this place
44 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 44 fires within 5 miles of Northville (historical) between 2015 and 2020, burning about 35 acres in total. None started naturally. 6 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 19 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 |
| Smoking | 7 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 September 2016 | Smoking | 3.0 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 14 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 25 August 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 21 August 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 24 July 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 21 July 2020 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 7 June 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 5 June 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected near this place
12 of 1,687 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,687 specimens collected within 10 miles of Northville (historical) between 1839 and 1974: 962 Plantae, 431 Animalia, 271 Fungi, 15 Unrecorded, 6 Protozoa, 2 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A E WOODHEAD, A. A. Eaton, 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 | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Sceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) Lyon | 1899 | H. H. Scudder | |
 | Pooecetes gramineus gramineus (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) | 1900 | Roscoe I. Giles | |
 | Ochrolechia tartarea (L.) A.Massal. | 1839 | E. Tuckerman | |
 | Carex laxiflora Lam. | 1840 | Thomas Nuttall | Cambridge. |
 | Carex vestita Willd. | 1840 | Thomas Nuttall | Cambridge. |
 | Mycobilimbia hypnorum (Lib.) Kalb & Hafellner | 1848 | E. Tuckerman | |
 | Tamias striatus lysteri (Richardson, 1829) | 1848 | L Agassiz | PARSONS ISLAND |
 | Cladonia cornucopioides F.Wilson | 1850 | J. L. Russell | Leicester |
 | Geranium maculatum L. | 1850 | not recorded | |
 | Packera aurea (L.) Á.Löve & D.Löve | 1850 | not recorded | |
| Elymus repens (L.) Gould | 1892 | Arthur B. Seymour | Cambridge. | |
| Festuca pratensis Huds. | 1892 | Arthur B. Seymour | Cambridge. |
All 1,687 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 12 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Northville (historical): 8 past producers, 3 producers, 1 plant. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Lead, Stone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bd Bloomfield Co--Worcester, Ma. | Lead | Plant | ||
| Shrewsbury Trap Rock | Stone | Producer | ||
| Capa Corporation | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Elmwood Street Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| F Ang G Sand and Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| F and G Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Sewall Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Shrewsbury Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Town of Boylston | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Trulson Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chadwick Square | 0.2 miles | 45 | |
| Westchester | 1.1 miles | 45 | |
| Greendale | 1.2 miles | 45 | |
| Brittan Square | 1.3 miles | 45 | |
| Hammond Heights | 1.4 miles | 45 | |
| Beverly Road | 1.5 miles | 45 | |
| Westwood Hills | 1.5 miles | 45 | |
| Chandler Hill | 1.6 miles | 45 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 606264. 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.