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

Oak Grove, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Malden City. It lies in ZIP code area 02148. It stands on Waitts Mountain. The Survey maps it on the Boston North quadrangle.

Oak Grove 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 Oak Grove, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Oak Grove, 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.

In the county-history sources

49,084 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 Malden City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Retaining about one third of its original territory, ilalden is bounded southerly by Everett^ westerly by Medford, northerly by Melrose, and easterly by Saugus and Revere. Its greatest length from east to west is about three miles, and its average width about one and one half miles. Its northern portion comprises a region of rocky hills, which, a few years since, were generally wooded, and which abound in many natural beauties. This section has, in recent years, been invaded by the builder, and has afforded many j^leasant and romantic sites. The eastern division, where the thriving villages of Faulkner's, Maplewood, and Linden - stations upon the Eastern Railroad - have, as before mentioned, grown with great rapidity, is probably that which will receive the largest growth in the early future, as its romantic scenery and the comparative cheajniess of its lands offer inducements which will not be uinioticed in the return of general prosperity. At Belmont, on the highlands at the southern border of the town, and at Oak Grove, at its opposite extremity, similar growths have occurred, with fair prospects of the future ; while at Edgeworth a vigorous community of mechanics and laborers has gathered around the manufactories which are there established.

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 Malden City.

Fires near this place

88 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 88 fires within 5 miles of Oak Grove between 2015 and 2020, burning about 106 acres in total. None started naturally. 28 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
Arson/incendiarism28
Missing data/not specified/undetermined25
Recreation and ceremony14
Debris and open burning11
Smoking5
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Equipment and vehicle use2
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
4 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 September 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlSAUGUS
23 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 1,644 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,644 specimens collected within 10 miles of Oak Grove between 1898 and 1975: 716 Animalia, 511 Plantae, 356 Fungi, 26 Protozoa, 17 Bacteria, 10 Chromista, 8 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A B. Proper 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 Trientalis borealis Raf.Trientalis borealis Raf.1900A. P. Chute
Aglaospora profusa (Fr.) De Not.1898Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Bulbostylis capillaris, not of this specimenBulbostylis capillaris var. crebra Fernald1898C. H. KnowltonBoston.
A photograph of the species Cantharellus infundibuliformis, not of this specimenCantharellus infundibuliformis (Scop.) Fr.1898not recordedMelrose.
A photograph of the species Cladonia coccifera, not of this specimenCladonia coccifera (L.) Willd.1898Francis P DanielsCambridge
A photograph of the species Cladonia rangiferina, not of this specimenCladonia rangiferina (L.) Weber1898Francis P DanielsArlington Heights
A photograph of the species Cordyceps capitata, not of this specimenCordyceps capitata (Holmsk.) Link1898Conant, [?] F.Middlesex Fells
A photograph of the species Crataegus coccinea, not of this specimenCrataegus coccinea L.1898NoneHarvard University Arboretum
A photograph of the species Ctenidium malacodes, not of this specimenCtenidium malacodes Mitt.1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Cucurbitaria elongata, not of this specimenCucurbitaria elongata (Fr.) Grev.1898J. G. Hall
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.

All 1,644 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 17 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 17 workings within 5 miles of Oak Grove: 7 plants, 6 past producers, 3 producers, 1 unknown. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Iron, Lead, Silica. 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) Vulcan Smelter--Chelsea, Ma.Copper, LeadPlant
C. J. MabardySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Mahoney:S Rocky LedgePeatPast ProducerPeat
Rocky Ledge PitClayPast Producer
Us Gypsum Co--BostonGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
(Facility) Cambridge Smelter CoLeadPlant
Ferro Ceramic Grinding--WakefieldSilicaPlant
Industrial Serv. Centers--CambridgeIronPlant
Somerville Smelting Co.LeadPlant
Syncor Prdts Co--Malden, Ma.SilicaPlant

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms near this place

9 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oak Grove in 9 storm reports between 2008 and 2021: 5 thunderstorm wind, 3 flood, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2010Thunderstorm WindOak Grove$15,000A tree, large limbs, and wires were downed in Melrose and Wakefield. One of the limbs was downed onto a car on Beech Avenue in Melrose.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindOak Grove$10,000Trees, wires, and large limbs were downed on Whitman, Lionel, and Middle Streets by thunderstorm winds.
February 2016Thunderstorm WindOak Grove$5,000Numerous tree limbs were downed throughout Melrose.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindOak Grove$5,000Trees were downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindOak Grove$1,000Wires on Hillside Avenue were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2021FloodOak Grove-In Melrose, Main St was closed from Sylvan St to Mt Vernon St due to flooding. Report forwarded by amateur radio.
September 2019FloodOak Grove-In Melrose, a car was stuck in flooding on Lebanon Street at Sylvan Street.
August 2018FloodOak Grove-At 8 AM EST, Woodland Road in Stoneham was flooded and impassable.
October 2012HailOak Grove-Quarter inch hail fell on Hancock Street.

Every storm 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
Fells0.5 miles46
Malden Highlands0.6 miles46
Malden Centre0.7 miles46
Malden0.8 miles46
Faulkner1.1 miles46
Edgeworth1.1 miles46
Glenwood1.2 miles46
Maplewood1.3 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612793. 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.