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

Roxbury, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Boston City. It lies in ZIP code area 02119. It stands on Parker Hill. The Survey maps it on the Boston South quadrangle.

Roxbury within Suffolk 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 Roxbury, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Roxbury, 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.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Boston city, in the words of 1894.

1894, Boston City

City Charter

IN giving some notices of manners and social life during this period, I shall speak first of usages which were characteristic of the close of the last century: most of them continued without essential modification until our city charter swept away the old landmarks, and Boston felt the im¬ pulses which mark a new epoch in her history.

Read the rest of this passage

Fires nearby

49 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 49 fires within 5 miles of Roxbury between 2015 and 2020, burning about 42 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 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 ceremony25
Missing data/not specified/undetermined13
Smoking8
Arson/incendiarism2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
23 September 2020Missing 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
2 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBROOKLINE
2 September 2017Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY
11 September 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY
7 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY
6 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMILTON
28 August 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Suffolk County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 15,208 shown

Museums hold 15,208 specimens collected within 10 miles of Roxbury between 1810 and 1975: 6,276 Plantae, 4,379 Fungi, 3,542 Animalia, 509 Chromista, 212 Protozoa, 202 Bacteria, 88 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), ?, 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 SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
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 Betula L., not of this specimenBetula L.1815Boott, J.W.Near Fresh Pond, Cambridge, 4 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Chenopodium album, not of this specimenChenopodium album L.1815not recordedGathered at Bunker (properly Breed's) Hill.
A photograph of the species Corylus L., not of this specimenCorylus L.1815not recordedCambridge Port, 2 miles from Boston.
Ericaceae1815BoottBoston, U.S.A.
Acanthis flammea flammea (Linnaeus, 1758)1900ZAPPEY, W RROSLINDALE
Acer carpinifolium Siebold & Zucc.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
Acer palmatum var. dissectum (Thunb.) Miq.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
Agaricus flavescens (Gillet) Sacc.1900G. E. Morris
Agarum turneri Postels & Ruprecht1900J. MurdochRevere

All 15,208 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

9 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Roxbury: 7 plants, 2 past producers. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Lead, Gypsum-Anhydrite, 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.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
C. J. MabardySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Us Gypsum Co--BostonGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
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 Suffolk County

Storms nearby

7 since 1997

The National Weather Service names Roxbury in 7 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 hail, 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
May 2006Thunderstorm WindWest Roxbury$25,000no account filed
July 2016Thunderstorm WindWest Roxbury$10,000Two large trees were downed by thunderstorm winds.
September 2013FloodWest Roxbury$5,000Heavy rain fell flooding a portion of Spring Street in front of the Shaw's supermarket in West Roxbury. A car got stuck in these flood waters.
June 2024Flash FloodWest Roxbury-In West Roxbury, 3 cars were stuck in floodwaters on Spring St.
July 2023Flash FloodWest Roxbury-In West Roxbury, Spring St was closed due to flooding.
June 2000Thunderstorm WindWest Roxbury-no account filed
August 1997HailWest Roxbury-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Suffolk 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
Roxbury Crossing0.4 miles46
Grove Hall1.5 miles46
Jamaica Plain1.7 miles46
Back Bay1.8 miles46
Mount Bowdoin1.8 miles46
Uphams Corner1.9 miles46
Forest Hills2.0 miles46
Meeting House Hill2.2 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612993. 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.