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

Shirley, Massachusetts

44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Shirley town. It lies in ZIP code area 01464. It stands on The Major Hills. The Survey maps it on the Shirley quadrangle. 1,611 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 285 feet above sea level.

Shirley within Middlesex County

Population over time

2 figures

Shirley grew from 1,441 to 1,611 between 2010 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. 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
2010	1,441
2020	1,611	+170 (+12%)

Then and now

1893 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 95 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Shirley, surveyed 1988

Topographic sheet of Shirley, surveyed 1893

Topographic sheets covering this place

44 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

16,055 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 Shirley Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Agriculture has always been the chief occupation of the inliabitants of this town, although various mechanical trades have, from time to time, occupied a limited number. At present the chief industries of this nature are the manufacture of shoes, of willow-ware, and of cider and vinegar. The latter is conducted on a much larger scale than ever before.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

Among the distinguished sons of Sherborn not already mentioned are Rev. Zedekiah Sanger, D. D., afterwards of Bridgewater; Rev. Samuel Kendall, D. D., of Weston; Rev. Henry Ware, D. D., professor of divinity at Harvard University, and the father of Henry Ware, Jr., D. D., John Ware, M. D., of Boston, a medical professor at Harvard, and William Ware, the author of Zenobia and other American classics ; and Asher Ware, LL. D., a cousin of Henry Ware, a distinguished lawyer and jurist, at one time also a professor at Harvard, and afterwards a judge of the district court at Portland, Maine.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

HIRLEY is situated in the northwesterly part of Middlesex County. It is thirty-eight miles northwest from Bosthirty miles in the same direction from Cambridge, and twenty miles southwest from Lowell, the two shire- '^ towns of the county.

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 Shirley Town - it names this place 47 more 47 times.

Fires near this place

76 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 76 fires within 5 miles of Shirley between 2002 and 2020, burning about 2,623 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	33
Debris and open burning	23
Smoking	9
Recreation and ceremony	6
Equipment and vehicle use	3
Railroad operations and maintenance	1
Arson/incendiarism	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
20 September 2015	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
1 September 2017	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
30 August 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
27 August 2017	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
26 August 2017	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
24 August 2016	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
22 August 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
18 August 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	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 381 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 381 specimens collected within 10 miles of Shirley between 1900 and 1974: 234 Animalia, 83 Plantae, 35 Protozoa, 25 Fungi, 4 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. C. Gibson, A. K. Moore, B. G. Schubert, C.E. Wood Jr. 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
Pholiota carbonaria (Fr.) Singer	1900	H. Webster	Groton.
unnamed	1926	F.A. Gilbert
Adoxophyes furcatana (Walker, 1863)	1926	not recorded	Lancaster
Anavitrinella pampinaria (Guenée, 1857)	1926	not recorded	Lunenburg
Arcyria cinerea (Bull.) Pers., 1801	1926	Collector unspecified
Alopecurus aequalis Sobol.	1930	M. L. Fernald; C. A. Weatherby
Cistothorus stellaris (J.F.Naumann, 1823)	1930	Collector(s): James Lee Peters	Harvard
Colaptes auratus luteus Bangs, 1898	1930	Collector(s): James Lee Peters	Harvard
Epitheca cynosura (Say, 1840)	1930	Davis, E. M.	MA, Middlesex Co., Shirley
Hemaris thysbe Fabricius, 1775	1930	not recorded	Lunenburg
Lanius ludovicianus migrans W.Palmer, 1898	1930	Collector(s): James Lee Peters	Harvard
Molothrus ater ater (Boddaert, 1783)	1930	Collector(s): James Lee Peters	Harvard

All 381 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Shirley: 4 past producers, 2 producers, 1 unknown. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Keating Quarry & Mill	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Unknown
Keating Quarry and Mill	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Hazen Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Joy Contracting Tc	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Luenburg Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
P J Keating	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Shirley Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms near this place

13 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Shirley in 13 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 11 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. The reports record 5 injuries. 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 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	North Shirley	5 hurt, $2,000	The Devens Fire Chief reported five injuries from Fort Devens when a military-grade tent was lifted up and blown down an embankment by thunderstorm winds. It occurred during a training exercise. Five people were taken to the hospital, treated, and released. Four of the injuries were minor, but one trainee, who was holding onto the tent, was also lifted up and blown 40 feet down the embankment, and received a concussion.
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Shirley	$10,000	no account filed
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	North Shirley	$5,000	In Shirley, broadcast media sent aerial photos of around a dozen trees uprooted or snapped off at the top laying in the same direction on Walker Rd.
March 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Shirley	$5,000	A one foot diameter tree was downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Shirley	$5,000	Power lines at the intersection of Cold Spring and Graniteville were downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Shirley	$5,000	Trees on Willard Road were downed by thunderstorm winds. Willard Road was closed due to the damage.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	North Shirley	$200	In Ayer, a tree was down on wires on Douglas St.
June 2025	Hail	Shirley	-	In Shirley, a trained spotter reported quarter size hail.
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Shirley	-	Trees and wires down on South Street.
February 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Shirley	-	A gust to 60 mph was reported in Shirley.
August 2015	Hail	Shirley	-	no account filed
June 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Shirley	-	no account filed
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Shirley	-	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
Shaker Village	1.0 miles	44
Shirley Center	2.0 miles	44
Woodsville	2.4 miles	41
North Shirley	2.8 miles	44
Ayer	3.4 miles	41
West Groton	4.3 miles	44
Devenscrest	4.4 miles	41
Vose	4.8 miles	44

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 Shirley	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7498676	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 610789. 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.