Shrewsbury, Massachusetts

44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Shrewsbury town. It lies in ZIP code area 01545. It lies near Golden Hill. The Survey maps it on the Shrewsbury quadrangle.

Research this city

Shrewsbury within Worcester County

Then and now

1887 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 102 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Shrewsbury, surveyed 1989

Topographic sheet of Shrewsbury, surveyed 1887

On record in Shrewsbury

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 4 records

Businesses named in the fire insurance atlases 3 records

Intermediate SchoolSchool, in the atlas of 1910
Post Office BlockIce House, in the atlas of 1910
Primary SchoolSchool, in the atlas of 1910

Topographic sheets covering this place

19 surveys from 44 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.

1887 USGS Marlboro quadrangle1:62500
1889 USGS Marlboro quadrangle1:62500
1896 USGS Marlboro quadrangle1:62500
1898 USGS Marlboro quadrangle1:62500, 8 printings
1908 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
1943 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000
1943 USGS Shrewsbury quadrangle1:31680, 3 printings
1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1953 USGS Shrewsbury quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
1953 USGS Shrewsbury quadrangle1:24000
1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1969 USGS Shrewsbury quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
1969 USGS Shrewsbury quadrangle1:25000
1975 USGS Shrewsbury quadrangle1:25000
1983 USGS Marlborough quadrangle1:25000, 3 printings
1985 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

In the county-history sources

9,636 words on this township

History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Shrewsbury Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Thk history of Shrewsbury properly begins with certain land grants of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, located within the territory of which the town was afterwanls formed. These grants, called farms, named after the grantees and five in number, were: (1) Davenport's Farm, 650 acres; (2) Haynes' Farm, otherwise called Quinsigamond Farm, 3200 acres; (3) Maiden Farm, 1000 acres ; (4) Rawson's Farm, 500 acres, and (5) Sewall's Farm, 1500 acres. But the quantity of land in these grants was, in fact, greatly in excess of the number of acres named, and the aggregate was, doubtless, more than 10,000 acres,

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.

It will aid to a better understanding both of what precedes and what is to follow to give a brief account of the road through Shrewsbury anciently called the Connecticut Road, - in later times the Country Road, the Stage Road, Post Road and Great Road. The original road from Massachusetts Bay to the Con-

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.

The principal change of the old way consisted in passing north instead of south of Quinsigumond Pond, and so through Shrewsbury. Departing from the old way, it passed northerly of Little Chauncey Poud in Northborough into Shrewsbury exactly where the Great Road enters the town to-day, and thence through the town to the head of Quinsigamond Pond, on substantially the same line as the present road. But in 1726 it was re-located by a jury sent out by the Middlesex Court of Sessions, whose accepted return, so far as relates to the re-location in Shrewsbury, is as follows (what immediately precedes relates to the way in Worcester): "And thence in Shrewsbury, keeping the old nay, crossing the Brook, running into Long Pond, and so keeping the old way south of Gershom Wheelock's house, and between the house and barn of Daniel How, & so still keeping the old road till it comes out of the woodland east of said How's, on the edge of the Great Rocky Plain, and so keeping very nigh a straight line a little south of Mr. Cu^hing's house, on the east side of the aforesaid Plain, and then in the old way till it come to Capt. Keyes' fenced land, and so crossing a small corner of said Keyes' fenced ground, and then in the old way running between said Keyes' house and barn, and so keeping the old road south of Widow Blair's, and so to the Westborough ' line in the old road, passing between Daniel Barnes' house and barn," etc.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.

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 Shrewsbury Town - it names this place 37 more 37 times.

Fires near this place

45 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 45 fires within 5 miles of Shrewsbury between 2002 and 2020, burning about 19 acres in total. None started naturally. 6 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	22
Smoking	8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	8
Arson/incendiarism	6
Recreation and ceremony	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
2 September 2016	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
18 September 2016	Smoking	3.0 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
25 August 2017	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
21 August 2017	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
13 August 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
24 July 2018	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
21 July 2020	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
10 July 2020	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 Worcester County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 1,733 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,733 specimens collected within 10 miles of Shrewsbury between 1839 and 1974: 950 Plantae, 532 Animalia, 227 Fungi, 14 Unrecorded, 6 Protozoa, 4 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A E WOODHEAD, A. A. Eaton, 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.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Sceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) Lyon	1899	H. H. Scudder
Ochrolechia tartarea (L.) A.Massal.	1839	E. Tuckerman
Carex laxiflora Lam.	1840	Thomas Nuttall	Cambridge.
Carex vestita Willd.	1840	Thomas Nuttall	Cambridge.
Mycobilimbia hypnorum (Lib.) Kalb & Hafellner	1848	E. Tuckerman
Geranium maculatum L.	1850	not recorded
Packera aurea (L.) Á.Löve & D.Löve	1850	not recorded
Carex aperta Boott	1853	W. Boott	Massachusetts
Cladrastis tinctoria Raf.	1856	Anonymous	Cambridge.
Castilleja coccinea (L.) Spreng.	1892	E. C. Smith	Marboro.
Elymus repens (L.) Gould	1892	Arthur B. Seymour	Cambridge.
Festuca pratensis Huds.	1892	Arthur B. Seymour	Cambridge.

All 1,733 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Shrewsbury: 5 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. 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
Shrewsbury Trap Rock	Stone	Producer
30 Southwest Cutoff Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
F Ang G Sand and Gravel	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
F and G Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Sewall Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Shrewsbury Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Town of Boylston	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Worcester Sand and Gravel	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms near this place

22 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Shrewsbury in 22 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 10 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 4 flood, 2 flash flood. The reports record 3 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
June 1996	Lightning	Shrewsbury	3 hurt	no account filed
August 2008	Flash Flood	Shrewsbury	$100,000	In Shrewsbury, Route 9 from the Worcester/Shrewsbury line to Route 140 was flooded. In Worcester, flash flooding resulted in motorists being rescued from their cars and homeowners trying to get water out of their basements. Sunderland Road and Bowman Lane were both closed due to flooding, while Lake Street had three feet of water standing in the street. Water on a side street to Hamilton Street overtopped the roof of a car stalled in the road. Flood waters inundated at least 70 basements with water standing 12 to 18 inches deep.
June 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Shrewsbury	$20,000	no account filed
May 2009	Hail	Shrewsbury	$15,000	Golfball size hail fell in Shrewsbury denting cars.
June 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Shrewsbury	$15,000	no account filed
August 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Shrewsbury	$10,000	Sixteen inch diameter trees on Holden Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
April 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Shrewsbury	$10,000	Trees were downed by thunderstorm winds in Shrewsbury. Trees and wires were downed on Cona Avenue in Dudley.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Shrewsbury	$5,000	A tree and tree limbs on Hutchins Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	South Shrewsbury	$1,000	In Shrewsbury, two trees were down at the intersection of Hillando Drive and Walnut Street.
June 2017	Flood	South Shrewsbury	$1,000	At 226 PM EST, significant flooding was reported on Oak Street in Shrewsbury.
August 2023	Flood	Shrewsbury	-	In Shrewsbury, town hall near the police department was flooded. Municiple Dr was also flooded.
June 2019	Hail	Shrewsbury	-	There were two reports of hail in Shrewsbury MA. One-inch diameter hail fell at 12:45 PM EST, and three-quarter inch hail fell at 12:43 PM.
September 2018	Flash Flood	South Shrewsbury	-	At 12:36 PM EST, Floral Street in Shrewsbury was flooded and impassable.
October 2017	Flood	South Shrewsbury	-	State Route 9 at Saybrook Road in Shrewsbury was flooded. Route 9 interchange with State Route 20...the off-ramp is flooded with cars trapped.
May 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Shrewsbury	-	An amateur radio operator estimated 70 mph winds in Shrewsbury. This occurred at the same time as golfball sized hail that dented cars.
May 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Shrewsbury	-	Trees were downed in Sutton, Shrewsbury, and Northborough.
June 2013	Hail	Shrewsbury	-	no account filed
May 2010	Hail	Shrewsbury	-	no account filed
August 2003	Hail	Shrewsbury	-	no account filed
June 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Shrewsbury	-	no account filed
June 1996	Flood	Shrewsbury	-	no account filed
July 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Shrewsbury	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Worcester 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
South Shrewsbury	1.4 miles	44
Fairlawn	2.1 miles	44
Morningdale	2.7 miles	45
Lakeview	3.2 miles	45
Great Brook Valley	3.2 miles	45
Edgemere	3.6 miles	45
Pinecrest	3.6 miles	45
Beverly Road	3.7 miles	45

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 610909. 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.