BlockSalem, Massachusetts
42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Salem City. It lies in ZIP code area 01970. It stands on South River. The Survey maps it on the Salem quadrangle. 44,480 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 26 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1888 to 1985The same ground, surveyed 97 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
On record in Salem
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 12 of 47 shown
Nathaniel Bowditch HouseNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
Gardiner-Pingree HouseNational Historic Landmark · listed 1970
Hamilton HallNational Historic Landmark · listed 1970
Peabody Museum of SalemNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
Salem Maritime National Historic SiteNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
Joseph Story HouseNational Historic Landmark · listed 1973
John Ward HouseNational Historic Landmark · listed 1968- House of Seven Gables Historic DistrictNational Historic Landmark · listed 1973
Baker's Island Light Stationlisted 1976
Bowker Placelisted 1983
Bridge Street Neck Historic Districtlisted 2002
Charter Street Historic Districtlisted 1975
Surveyed buildings and structures 12 of 58 shown
- Andrew-Safford Place, 13 Washington Square, Salemfederal building survey, 6 photographs
- Andrew-Safford Stable, 13 Washington Square, Salemfederal building survey, 7 photographs
- Baldwin-Lyman House (Fence), 92 Washington Square, Salemfederal building survey, 3 photographs
- Benjamin Pickman House, 165 Essex Street, Salemfederal building survey, 10 photographs
- Boardman-Bowen House (Fence), 1 Boardman Street, Salemfederal building survey, 2 photographs
- Brooks House, 260 Lafayette Street, Salemfederal building survey, 2 photographs
- Cook-Oliver House, 142 Federal Street, Salemfederal building survey, 25 photographs
- Crowninshield Warehouse, India Street, Salemfederal building survey, 5 photographs
- Crowninshield-Devereaux House, 74 Washington Square, Salemfederal building survey, 2 photographs
- Custom House & Public Stores, 178 Derby Street, Salemfederal building survey, 16 photographs
- Custom House & Public Stores, Scale House, 178 Derby Street, Salemfederal building survey, 2 photographs
- Derby House, 168 Derby Street, Salemfederal building survey, 38 photographs
Every surveyed structure in Essex County
Businesses named in the fire insurance atlases 12 of 17 shown
- Advent Christian ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1906
- Austin, J. L., Curry ShopShop, in the atlas of 1890
- Austin, J.L., Currying ShopShop, in the atlas of 1906
- Bowditeh Grammar SchoolSchool, in the atlas of 1890
- Congregational ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1906
- Conway, J., TanneryTannery, in the atlas of 1890
- Episcopal ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1906
- Litus & Co., Furniture WarehouseWarehouse, in the atlas of 1906
- Northern Depot &Depot, in the atlas of 1890
- Sons of Jacob ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1906
- South Congreg. ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1890
- State Normal SchoolSchool, in the atlas of 1890
Population over time
3 figuresSalem grew from 40,407 to 44,480 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 40,407 | |
| 2010 | 41,340 | +933 (+2%) |
| 2020 | 44,480 | +3,140 (+8%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
17 surveys from 42 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.
- 1888 USGS Salem quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Salem quadrangle1:62500, 11 printings
- 1917 USGS Salem quadrangle1:62500
- 1919 USGS Salem quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1943 USGS Cape Ann quadrangle1:125000
- 1944 USGS Salem quadrangle1:31680, 3 printings
- 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Salem quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1956 USGS Salem quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1970 USGS Salem quadrangle1:25000
- 1970 USGS Salem quadrangle1:24000
- 1977 USGS Salem quadrangle1:25000
- 1984 USGS Gloucester quadrangle1:100000
- 1985 USGS Salem quadrangle1:25000, 3 printings
In the county-history sources
67,733 words on this townshipHistory of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888 names this settlement in its chapter on Salem City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
Captain Endicott was ashore at the time, receiving pepper to be sent on board. Observing something unusual in the conduct of those aboard the ship, Captain Endicott determined to return to her at once, but hardly had he started with his men when crowds of Malays began to assemble on the banks of the river, brandishing their weapons and otherwise menacing him. At the same time three Malav boats, with forty or fifty men each, came out of the river and pulled toward the ship. Convinced that the only way to recover the ship was by obtaining assistance from some other vessel, Captain Endicott directed his boat's course to Muckie, a port about twenty-five miles distant, where he knew two or three American vessels were lying. Arriving there, he found three vessels, among them the brig " Governor Endicott," of Salem, H. H. Jenks, master, and the ship " James Monroe," J. Porter, master, of New York. These vessels proceeded at once to Quallah-Battoo. The " Friendship " was meanwhile in the possession of the Malays, who plundered her of the specie and every other movable article. Four of her crew jumped overboard at the time of the attack, and swam a distance of two miles before they could find a safe place to land. After wandering about in the bushes, almost without food, for three days, they found a canoe, and made their way to the residence of a friendly native, named Po Adam, who furnished them with clothing and carried them aboard one of the American vessels. Upon the arrival at Quallah-Battoo of the three vessels, before mentioned, an attack was made upon the town, and the " Friendship " was boarded and recaptured. Her voyage having been broken up, the "Friendship" returned to Salem, where she arrived July 16, 1831. About a year thereafter the United States frigate " Potomac," before referred to, bombarded Quallah-Battoo as a punishment for the conduct of the natives towards an American vessel.
Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.
Another Salem vessel, the " Eclipse," had a somewhat similar experience on the coast of Sumatra in 1838. While the mate and four hands were ashore, a party of Malays boarded the vessel and killed the captain, Charles P. Wilkins. The crew, finding themselves overpowered, escaped, some by ascending the shrouds, and some by jumping overboard and swimming ashore. The Malays then plundered the ship of specie, opium and everything else of value, and departed with their ill-gotten gains. The men aloft descended, lowered their boat, and rowed to a French bark lying at an adjoining port. The next morning the crew returned to the vessel, and during the night they set sail and left the island. The "Eclipse" had a sad ending. She sailed from Sumatra July 10, 1849, under command of Captain Daniel Cross, and was never after heard from. She had on board a cargo of pepper, consigned to Tucker Daland and Henry L. Williams.
Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.
The Manila Trade. - In the early days of Salem commerce, when her enterprising and energetic merchants were seeking to establish trade with hitherto unknown countries, and her ships were ploughing the seas which had never before floated an American vessel, the ship "Astrea," commanded by Henry Prince, and owned by that king among merchants, Elias Hasket Derby, entered the harbor of Manila, the capital city of the Phillipine Islands, situated on the island of Luzon. Obtaining there a cargo of 750,- 000 pounds of sugar, 63,695 pounds of pepper, and 29,767 pounds of indigo, she entered at Salem in May, 1797, and paid a duty on her cargo of $24,020. A journal of this voyage, kept by Nathaniel Bowditch, afterwards so famous as a mathematician, is on the files of the East India Marine Society. The "Astrea" left Salem March 27, 1796, and went to Lisbon, Madeira and Manila, arriving at the latter place October 3, 1796. On the passage home, February 18, 1797, the ship sprung a leak, and two men were obliged to be kept at the pumps constantly from that time till the 22d of May, 1797, when the vessel arrived at Salem.
Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.
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 Salem City - it names this place 242 more 242 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.
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fires near this place
58 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 58 fires within 5 miles of Salem between 2006 and 2020, burning about 186 acres in total. 1 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 ceremony | 22 |
| Smoking | 9 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | BEVERLY |
| 4 September 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | BEVERLY |
| 27 September 2020 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 27 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 21 September 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 21 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 17 September 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | PEABODY |
| 9 August 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | LYNN |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected near this place
12 of 9,227 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 9,227 specimens collected within 10 miles of Salem between 1800 and 1975: 3,759 Plantae, 2,868 Animalia, 1,043 Fungi, 900 Chromista, 457 Unrecorded, 152 Bacteria, 48 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A B. Proper, A H HIGGINSON, A. A. Eaton 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Rhodocollybia prolixa var. distorta (Fr.) Antonín, Halling & Noordel. | 1800 | R. B. Mackintosh | Peabody |
| Erysiphaceae | 1803 | A. B. Seymour | ||
 | Brasenia schreberi J.F.Gmel. | 1821 | not recorded | Pleasant Pond, Wenham, Mass. |
 | Lecanora tartarea (L.) Ach. | 1839 | E. Tuckerman | Manchester |
 | Ochrolechia yasudae Vainio | 1839 | Tuckerman, E. | [USA] Manchester, Massachusetts. |
 | Desmarestia viridis (O.F.Müll.) J.V.Lamour. | 1841 | C. E. Pease | Marblehead |
 | Polysiphonia urceolata (Lightfoot ex Dillwyn) Greville | 1841 | F. S. Collins | Revere Beach, Revere, MA |
 | Splachnum ampullaceum Hedw. | 1843 | A. Gray; W. S. Sullivant | Manchester |
 | Carex caryophyllea Latourr. | 1847 | C. Dewey | Salem |
 | Carex muhlenbergii Kunth ex Boott | 1847 | F. M. B. Boott | |
 | Ceramium rubrum C.Agardh | 1848 | E. Hodges | |
 | Cladophora rupestris (L.) Kütz. | 1848 | H. W. W. Bailey | Little Nahant, MA |
All 9,227 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Salem: 5 plants, 1 unknown, 1 producer, 1 occurrence. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Zirconium, Iron, Thorium. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Facility) Travers Labs Refinery--Beverly, Ma. | Mercury, Silver, Gold, REE | Plant | ||
| Hale Engineering Co--Danvers, Ma. | Tungsten | Plant | ||
| Saugus Deposit | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Thiokol Ventron Div--Danvers, Ma. | Thorium | Plant | ||
| Thiokol Ventron Div--Beverly, Ma. | Zirconium | Plant | ||
| Ventron Corp--Beverly, Ma. | Zirconium | Past Producer | ||
| Swampscott Plant | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Plant | ||
| Swampscott Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Unknown | ||
| Swampscott Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Storms near this place
10 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Salem in 10 storm reports between 1993 and 2023: 4 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 2 flood, 1 flash 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2011 | Flash Flood | North Salem | $2,500,000 | Numerous streets were closed due to flooding. In addition, numerous vehicles were reported stuck in water on roads throughout Peabody; occupants had to be rescued and vehicles towed. Parts of Route 128 were impassable due to flooding. The Peabody police station was flooded, damaging training rooms, telephones, three police cruisers, and two motorcycles. Several houses were flooded near the intersection of Washington and Granite Streets. The Lahey Clinic was flooded with 4 to 6 feet of water in the basement and several inches of water in the 1st floor hallways. The fire chief estimated that at least 100 houses and 40 businesses were damaged. In addition, at least 100 basements throughout town were flooded. Flooding was extensive enough that schools were closed. |
| August 2008 | Flood | Salem | $25,000 | In Salem, Swampscott Road was closed due to flooding and three cars were stuck in floodwaters on Highland Avenue. Cars were stuck in floodwaters on Stettson Road in Swampscott. In Marblehead, West Shore Drive was impassable and closed from Cornell Road to Lafayette Street. In addition, a building was flooded on Salem Street and a house was flooded on Smith Street. |
| October 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | North Salem | $10,000 | A tree was downed onto a house on North Street by thunderstorm winds. |
| July 2023 | Flood | North Salem | - | In Salem, Pearl St bridge was closed due to flooding. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Salem | - | Trees down on Nichol Street. |
| August 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Salem | - | Two trees down in Salem Willows Park. Numerous dime-size hail stones fell at approximately 1845 EST in West Peabody with one or two stones just under the size of a quarter as measured by the son of a NWS meteorologist. Rainfall in Peabody was 1.68 inches. |
| May 2006 | Hail | Salem | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Salem | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Salem | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Hail | Salem | - | no account filed |
Newspapers printed here
1 paper1 paper published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
| Newspaper | Published |
|---|---|
| The American Gazette, Or, the Constitutional Journal | 1776 |
What the paper printed
5,715 wordsFront pages of the local paper, read from the Library of Congress scans: 4 issues all from 1776, 5,715 words in total. Each is reproduced on its own page, exactly as the recogniser returned it.
These pages read less well than anything else here, and the number is worth stating: about three words in four come through cleanly, against nine in ten for the building records. An 1896 broadsheet sets eight-point type in seven columns on microfilm, which is the hardest thing in this archive to read by machine. We tested our own recognisers against the Library's and they were not better, so the Library's text is what appears, with the wholly unreadable columns removed. Read it as a guide to what the paper covered, and follow the link to the scan before quoting anything.
| Issue | Paper | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1776-06-18 | The American Gazette, Or, the Constitutional Journal | 1,615 words |
| 1776-06-19 | The American Gazette, Or, the Constitutional Journal | 975 words |
| 1776-06-25 | The American Gazette, Or, the Constitutional Journal | 2,037 words |
| 1776-07-09 | The American Gazette, Or, the Constitutional Journal | 1,088 words |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Salem | 0.6 miles | 42 | |
| North Salem | 0.7 miles | 42 | |
| West Town Landing | 1.5 miles | 40 | |
| Peabody | 1.8 miles | 42 | |
| Salem Neck | 1.8 miles | 40 | |
| Rial Side | 2.1 miles | 42 | |
| Danversport | 2.4 miles | 42 | |
| Marblehead | 2.5 miles | 40 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Salem | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q54140 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 614337. 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.