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

Norton, Massachusetts

33 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1987. It stands in Norton town. It lies in ZIP code area 02766. It stands on Wading River. The Survey maps it on the Norton quadrangle.

Norton within Bristol County

Then and now

1885 to 1987

The same ground, surveyed 102 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Norton, surveyed 1987

Topographic sheet of Norton, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

33 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.

In the county-history sources

31,415 words on this township

History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883 names this settlement in its chapter on Norton Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

In September, 1741, the town " voted to raise £40 for the Suport of the Scoole, and for the birds' and Squrils' heads, and the poor." We suppose this was for the support of " the poor," and not a bounty offered for cutting off their " heads."

Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.

Deacon John Andrews might have been the son of Henry and Mary (Deane) Andrews, who were married Feb. 17, 1685-86, and was born about 1686. He is supposed to have been a grandson of Henry Andrews, one of the first settlers of Taunton.

Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.

Capt. Samuel Brintnell was the son of Thomas and Esther Brintnell (the first settlers of what is now Mansfield), and born Dec. 2 (?), 1665. He lived at the homestead of his father, and was a very influential man in the early history of the town, much employed in public affairs as selectman and representative to the General Court.

Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.

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 Norton Town - it names this place 104 more 104 times.

Photographs

2 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.

Jonathan Newcomb House, Norton, Bristol County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Norton Cotton Mill House, 338 East Main Street (moved from 198 East Main Street), Norton, Bristol County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Fires near this place

40 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 40 fires within 5 miles of Norton between 2015 and 2020, burning about 44 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	18
Debris and open burning	10
Recreation and ceremony	5
Smoking	2
Fireworks	2
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Misuse of fire by a minor	1
Arson/incendiarism	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
16 September 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
12 September 2017	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	PLAINVILLE
9 August 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
28 August 2016	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
11 August 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
10 August 2020	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
10 August 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
20 July 2016	Fireworks	1.2 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bristol County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 1,337 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,337 specimens collected within 10 miles of Norton between 1855 and 1975: 925 Animalia, 324 Plantae, 85 Fungi, 3 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A. A. Eaton, A. C. Birch 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
Apocynum cannabinum L.	1855	F. C. Seymour	Rehoboth
Astur Lacepède, 1799	1860	C. D. Lincoln	Taunton
Carex panicea L.	1863	J. H. Dean
Carex L.	1864	J. H. Dean	Taunton.
Carex vulpinoidea Michx.	1864	J. H. Dean
Hypoxis hirsuta (L.) Coville	1874	not recorded
Chelidonium majus L.	1875	not recorded
Lygodium palmatum (Bernh.) Sw.	1875	not recorded
Berberis vulgaris L.	1876	not recorded
Empidonax minimus (W.M.Baird & S.F.Baird, 1843)	1877	C.P. Snow	Taunton, North
Chaetura pelagica (Linnaeus, 1758)	1878	C. F. Snow	MASSACHUSETTS: Bristol County; Taunton
Coccyzus erythropthalmus (A.Wilson, 1811)	1878	not recorded	Taunton

All 1,337 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Norton: 5 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Taunton Plant	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Allen R. Nelson Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Gary Nelson Excavating Co	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Pine Street Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Sand and Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Sand and Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Bristol County

Storms near this place

16 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Norton in 16 storm reports between 1998 and 2018: 7 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 1 heavy rain, 1 hail. 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 1998	Flash Flood	Norton	$570,000	Wading River
October 2018	Tornado (EF1)	Norton	$20,000	The same storm cell that produced the North Providence and Lincoln, Rhode Island tornado spawned another tornado, which touched down in Norton, MA at approximately 413 PM EDT. The tornado began on Freeman Street, just north of West Main Street (Route 123). It traveled to the northeast, cutting across the extreme southern portion of Norton Reservoir and Mansfield Avenue (Route 140), and lifted at the southernmost portion of Reservoir Street around 415 PM EDT. On Freeman Street, an oak tree was downed with large branches leaning on a house. Between the reservoir and Mansfield Avenue, numerous oak and pine trees were snapped near their bases. A tree fell onto a garage causing significant structural damage. There was some damage to a home, but it was spared any significant damage. There was very pronounced convergence in the downed trees with some downed from southwest to northeast and others from southeast to northwest.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Norton	$10,000	A tree was downed by thunderstorm winds onto a house on Woodbine Road.
February 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Norton	$5,000	A tree on Dean and Hodges Streets was downed onto wires by thunderstorm winds.
February 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Norton	$5,000	A large tree was downed onto wires in Norton.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Norton	$5,000	Wires were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Norton	$5,000	A dozen fifteen foot pine branches were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2000	Hail	Norton	$5,000	no account filed
February 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Norton	$1,000	A large branch on Oak Street in Norton was downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Norton	$1,000	A tree was downed by thunderstorm winds.
October 2017	Flood	Norton	-	At 311 AM EST, Fillmore Drive was closed due to flooding.
March 2001	Flash Flood	Norton	-	Wading River at Norton and Paskamanset River at S Dartmouth
July 1998	Flash Flood	Norton	-	Wading River
March 2001	Flash Flood	Norton	-	no account filed
September 1999	Heavy Rain	Norton	-	no account filed
March 1998	Flash Flood	Norton	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Bristol 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
Centre Mills	0.6 miles	33
East Norton	1.1 miles	33
Copper Works	1.3 miles	33
Barrowsville	1.7 miles	33
Norton Grove	1.8 miles	33
Meadow Brook	2.3 miles	33
Cranes Station	2.4 miles	33
Chartley	2.4 miles	33

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612497. 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.