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Reservoir, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Brookline town. It lies in ZIP code area 02445. It lies near Fisher Hill. The Survey maps it on the Newton quadrangle.

Reservoir within Norfolk 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 Reservoir, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Reservoir, surveyed 1893

On record in Reservoir

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 12 of 23 shown

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Every listing in Norfolk County

Topographic sheets covering this place

17 surveys from 46 printed 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 Brookline town. The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.

From History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884 - Brookline Town

Thomas

"T shall be able to begin to travel home slowly in about 10 days, and shall, with the blessing of God, soon see you all. After being wounded I walked back to my tent, and in about an hour had only one arm, a circumstance which does not afflict me, my dear father, and must not you. But let us both thank God that he has so formed us that you have lived almost all your life happy & respectable, notwithstanding the loss of an eye, and I may spend the remainder of my life in the same manner with the loss of a limb, of all the most conveniently spared.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

53,501 words on this township

History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884 names this settlement in its chapter on Brookline Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Reading Academy (Wakefield); entered Waterville College with the class of 1835, and became a tutor in that institution. Ordained at Gloucester, Mass., June 7, 1837. Resigned his pastoral charge July, 1839, and took a two years' course of study in the Newton Theological Institution.

Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

| its source in the northeasterly corner of Brighton District, and then running northerly across Brighton Avenue and the Albany Railroad, it empties into This forms the boundary line between Brookline and Brighton at the extreme northwest corner.

Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

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 Brookline Town - it names this place 1 more 1 time.

Photographs

1 photograph,

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.

Cochituate Aqueduct, Brookline Reservoir Gatehouse, Boylston & Warren Streets, Brookline, Norfolk County, MA
Cochituate Aqueduct, Brookline Reservoir Gatehouse, Boylston & Warren Streets, Brookline, Norfolk County, MA
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

62 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 62 fires within 5 miles of Reservoir between 2003 and 2020, burning about 369 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 ceremony36
Missing data/not specified/undetermined17
Smoking4
Arson/incendiarism3
Equipment and vehicle use1
Debris and open burning1

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 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNEEDHAM
23 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
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 Norfolk County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 13,256 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 13,256 specimens collected within 10 miles of Reservoir between 1810 and 1975: 5,377 Plantae, 3,943 Fungi, 3,462 Animalia, 193 Protozoa, 177 Chromista, 71 Unrecorded, 33 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, ? ex Herb. W.G. Farlow, A C Gibson 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 Araiospora pulchra Thaxt.Araiospora pulchra Thaxt.1900R. ThaxterStony Brook
Specimen of Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) FernaldLysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald1900A. P. Chute
A photograph of the species Thalictrum L., not of this specimenThalictrum L.1810Boott, J.W.Near Boston.
A photograph of the species Anemone L., not of this specimenAnemone L.1815Boott, J.Andover Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Corydalis Vent., not of this specimenCorydalis Vent.1815Boott, F.M.B.Worcester turnpike, 6 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Corylus L., not of this specimenCorylus L.1815not recordedCambridge Port, 2 miles from Boston.
Ericaceae1815BoottBoston, U.S.A.
A photograph of the species Hepatica Mill., not of this specimenHepatica Mill.1815Boott, F.M.B.Sweet Auburn.
A photograph of the species Limonium vulgare, not of this specimenLimonium vulgare Mill.1815not recordedOn Cragies Road [=near Cragies Bridge], 1 1/2 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Mollugo verticillata, not of this specimenMollugo verticillata L.1815Boott, F.M.B.Boston.
A photograph of the species Nuphar Sm., not of this specimenNuphar Sm.1815Boott, J.W.Worcester Turnpike 6 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Persicaria Mill., not of this specimenPersicaria (L.) Mill.1815Boott, J.W.Craigie's Road, 2 miles from Boston.

All 13,256 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Reservoir: 8 plants, 1 unknown, 1 past producer. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Lead, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Tantalum. 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
C. J. MabardySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Nrc Inc--Newton, Ma.Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium)Plant
West Roxbury Crushed Stone OperatioStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Whittemore Prdts Inc--BostonPerlitePlant
(Facility) Cambridge Smelter CoLeadPlant
General Metals & Smelting--BostonLeadPlant
Industrial Serv. Centers--CambridgeIronPlant
Somerville Smelting Co.LeadPlant
Us Steel Supply Div--BostonIronPlant
Wheelock-Lovejoy--Cambridge, Ma.IronPlant

Every working recorded in Norfolk County

Storms near this place

2 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Reservoir in 2 storm reports between 2009 and 2020: 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood. 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
July 2009Thunderstorm WindReservoir$10,000Trees were downed onto the railroad tracks at Beacon and Fairbanks Streets.
June 2020FloodReservoir-In Brookline, Warwick Road at Beacon Street was closed due to flooding.

Every storm recorded in Norfolk 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
Beaconsfield0.4 miles46
Brookline1.5 miles46
Coolidge Corner1.5 miles46
Brookline Village1.7 miles46
Longwood Station2.1 miles46
Westbrook Village2.4 miles46
Riverdale4.6 miles46
Dedham Island4.9 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 607200. 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.