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

Smith Highlands, Massachusetts

44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Chicopee City. It lies in ZIP code area 01013. The Survey maps it on the Springfield North quadrangle.

Smith Highlands within Hampden County

Then and now

1886 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 99 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Smith Highlands, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Smith Highlands, surveyed 1886

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.

Fires nearby

372 since 2014

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 372 fires within 5 miles of Smith Highlands between 2014 and 2020, burning about 200 acres in total. 28 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined157
Equipment and vehicle use133
Debris and open burning31
Natural28
Recreation and ceremony16
Smoking4
Arson/incendiarism2
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
9 September 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 September 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
29 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
29 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
29 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
28 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hampden County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 2,163 shown

Museums hold 2,163 specimens collected within 10 miles of Smith Highlands between 1831 and 1975: 896 Animalia, 883 Plantae, 351 Fungi, 18 Chromista, 9 Unrecorded, 5 Protozoa, 1 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Albee, A. B. Seymour, A. C. Gibson 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 Lycopodiella inundata (L.) HolubLycopodiella inundata (L.) Holub1892ChapmanSouthhampton
Specimen of Taphrina johansonii Sadeb.Taphrina johansonii Sadeb.1894W.G. Farlow
Specimen of Calligrapha rhoda Knab, 1909Calligrapha rhoda Knab, 19091900F. KnabWest Springfield
A photograph of the species Carex bromoides, not of this specimenCarex bromoides Willd.1831Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Carex vesicaria, not of this specimenCarex vesicaria L.1836Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Carex vestita, not of this specimenCarex vestita Willd.1836Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Kalmia angustifolia, not of this specimenKalmia angustifolia f. angustifolia1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Kalmia latifolia, not of this specimenKalmia latifolia var. latifolia1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Pogonia ophioglossoides, not of this specimenPogonia ophioglossoides (L.) Ker Gawl.1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Carex siccata, not of this specimenCarex siccata Dewey1844Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Amphicarpaea bracteata, not of this specimenAmphicarpaea bracteata (L.) Fernald1845Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Galeopsis tetrahit, not of this specimenGaleopsis tetrahit L.1845not recorded

All 2,163 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 31 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 31 workings within 5 miles of Smith Highlands: 15 past producers, 14 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 plant. 15 still produce. What was taken out: Brick Clay, Stone, Dimension, Clay, Flagstone. 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
Construction Aggregates PitGranite, Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Macia Emery MineEmeryOccurrenceEmery
Bay State Refining Co--Chicopee, MaAluminumPlant
Chicopee PlantAluminumPast Producer
Banas S & G Pit & PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Banas Sand and Gravel Co IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Granby Pit IiStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Granby Quarry No 1Stone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Ondrick IndustriesSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Sandstone QuarryFlagstonePast Producer

Every working recorded in Hampden County

Storms nearby

6 since 2016

The National Weather Service names Smith Highlands in 6 storm reports between 2016 and 2024: 3 flood, 2 thunderstorm wind, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2020Thunderstorm WindSmith Highlands$140,000Damaging winds peeled two roofs off of neighboring apartment buildings in Holyoke's Flats neighborhood, at the intersection of West Street and East Dwight Street. A total of 140 residents ended up being displaced/homeless (47 families). Bricks from one of the buildings crashed onto West Street, damaging several cars. Some wooden support beams also rained onto the streets below. Amazingly, no injuries were reported. Damage figures approximate only.
July 2016FloodSmith Highlands$5,000A car was stuck in flood waters in the Prospect Street underpass near the intersection with Chicopee Street.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindSmith Highlands$1,000Tree down on Canal Street, partially blocking road in Holyoke.
June 2024FloodSmith Highlands-In South Holyoke there was 4 feet of standing water at an underpass on Cabot St with one vehicle stuck.
July 2018Flash FloodSmith Highlands-At 1:17 PM EST, the bottom of Simard Drive in Chicopee was flooded and impassable.
July 2016FloodSmith Highlands-The Cabot Street underpass in Holyoke was closed due to flooding. In addition, one lane of the exit to Main Street off of Interstate 391 was closed.

Every storm recorded in Hampden 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
North Chicopee1.0 miles44
Fairview1.0 miles44
Mathies Manor1.3 miles44
Plainville (historical)1.4 miles44
Aldenville1.6 miles44
Holyoke1.6 miles44
Springdale1.7 miles44
Perry Manor1.9 miles44

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 609084. 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.