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

Saxonville, Massachusetts

40 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Framingham City. It lies in ZIP code area 01701. It stands on Cochituate Brook. The Survey maps it on the Framingham quadrangle.

Saxonville within Middlesex County

Then and now

1886 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Saxonville, surveyed 1989

Topographic sheet of Saxonville, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

40 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

30,115 words on this township

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1890 names this settlement in its chapter on Framingham City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The first class consisted of Jona. Hill (leader), Benj. Stone, Isaac Stone and their wives, and Matthew Stone. They first met for religious worship in the dwelling-house of Henj. Stone. This was one of the earliest - if not the earliest - church of the order, gathered in Massachusetts. The records of the old Needham Circuit) do not extend back of 1791 ; and there is no doubt that the Saxonville Class helped to make up the reputed number of thirty-five members.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1890.

For thirty-five years the growth of Methodism in town was slow, and confined to a few families. In 1825 Mr. Lewis Jones, who w.as an earnest man and a successful worker in the denomination for a thii-d of a century, gathered a class at " The Corners," north of Saxonville, of which he was appointed leader. The names of the members of this class are as follows :

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1890.

The Saxonville JRelirjious Society was incorporated February 22, 1827, and a meeting-house was built the same year. Religious worship was at first conducted by ministers of the Unitarian denomination, and subsequently for a time by the Methodists and others. A Congregational Church was organized May 26, 1833, which later took the name of the Edwards Church in Saxonville.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1890.

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 Framingham City - it names this place 16 more 16 times.

Fires near this place

122 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 122 fires within 5 miles of Saxonville between 1995 and 2020, burning about 114 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 9 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
Debris and open burning	51
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	40
Arson/incendiarism	9
Recreation and ceremony	6
Smoking	4
Misuse of fire by a minor	3
Railroad operations and maintenance	3
Power generation/transmission/distribution	2
Equipment and vehicle use	2
Fireworks	1
Natural	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
4 September 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
3 September 2018	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
3 September 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
23 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
23 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
23 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
22 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
21 September 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 1,455 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,455 specimens collected within 10 miles of Saxonville between 1898 and 1975: 1,008 Animalia, 279 Plantae, 161 Fungi, 4 Chromista, 2 Protozoa, 1 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. B. Seymour & M. D. Feigley, A. E. Feldman 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
Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822	1900	not recorded	Wayland
Actaea pachypoda Elliott	1898	Ernest Charles Smith
Antennaria howellii subsp. canadensis (Greene) R.J.Bayer	1898	Williams, E.F.
Antennaria parlinii subsp. fallax (Greene) R.J.Bayer & Stebbins	1898	not recorded
Antennaria plantaginifolia (L.) Hook.	1898	not recorded
Aquilegia canadensis L.	1898	M. I. Gunn	Natick
Agaricus brunnescens Peck	1900	Morris, G. E.	Waltham
Agonopterix atrodorsella Clemens, 1863	1900	E. J. Smith	Sherborn
Apantesis Walker, 1855	1900	E. J. Smith	Sherborn
Apatelodes torrefacta J.E.Smith, 1797	1900	E. J. Smith	Sherborn
Araiospora pulchra Thaxt.	1900	Thaxter, Roland	Stony Brook, Mass. [Massachusetts]
Archips cerasivorana (Fitch, 1856)	1900	E. J. Smith	Sherborn

All 1,455 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 Saxonville: 7 past producers, 1 plant, 1 producer, 1 unknown. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Peat. 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
Hawkridge Bros--Ashland, Ma.	Iron	Plant
Panlini Loam Co	Peat	Past Producer	Peat
Arthur Scofield Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Framington Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Hi-Way Pit and Mill	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
New England Sand & Grv Co. Pit & Pl	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Sand & Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Stonebridge Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Town of Natick	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Town of Wayland	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms near this place

14 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Saxonville in 14 storm reports between 2007 and 2023: 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 2 flood, 2 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
August 2014	Flash Flood	Saxonville	$30,000	Two to four inches of rain fell in less than an hour in Framingham. This rendered several streets flooded and impassable, including Route 9 westbound near Oakcrest Drive, portions of Concord, A, and School Street, Queens Way. Several cars became stuck in flood waters, in some cases trapping their occupants temporarily.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Saxonville	$25,000	Multiple trees along Route 9 were downed by thunderstorm winds.
April 2007	Flood	Saxonville	$25,000	Minor to moderate flooding affected many rivers in Middlesex County. The Shawsheen River at Wilmington crested at 7.8 feet at 1 am on the 17th (flood stage is 7 feet). The Assabet River at Maynard crested at 6.3 feet at 1030 am on the 17th (flood stage is 5 feet), and the Sudbury River at Saxonville crested at 11 feet at 815 pm on the 17th (flood stage is 10 feet). Moderate flooding occurred along the Nashua River through East Pepperell, where the river crested at 13.1 feet at 530 am on the 18th (flood stage is 8 feet).
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Saxonville	$15,000	Trees and wires on Pine Lane were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Saxonville	$15,000	Trees at the intersection of Route 9 and Temple Street and branches on Gates Road were downed onto power lines by thunderstorm winds.
August 2008	Lightning	Saxonville	$15,000	Lightning struck a house on Edmonds Road causing a fire.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Saxonville	$10,000	A tree on Edgell Road was downed by thunderstorm winds onto a truck.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Saxonville	$1,000	In Framingham, several trees were down on wires.
July 2019	Flood	Saxonville	-	Route 30 (Cochituate Road) was flooded and impassable in Framingham.
June 2013	Flash Flood	Saxonville	-	Route 9 was closed at the the Route 126 underpass due to flooding.
June 2013	Hail	Saxonville	-	no account filed
July 2012	Hail	Saxonville	-	no account filed
July 2012	Hail	Saxonville	-	no account filed
July 2009	Hail	Saxonville	-	no account filed

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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Cochituate	1.9 miles	46
Nobscot	2.0 miles	40
East Sudbury Station	2.3 miles	40
Lokerville	2.6 miles	40
South Sudbury	2.6 miles	40
Lake Forest Park	2.7 miles	46
North Natick	2.8 miles	46
Framingham Center	2.8 miles	40

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 611580. 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.